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IOWA BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH 



JOHN CHAMBERS 



IOWA BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH 



JOHN CHAMBERS 

BY 
JOHN CARL PARISH 



THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 
IOWA CITY IOWA 1909 



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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

In the biographies of Robert Lucas and 
John Chambers, as written for the Iowa 
Biographical Series by Dr. Parish, may be 
found the outlines of the general history of 
the Territory of Iowa, since the administra- 
tions of these two Governors span all but 
one year of the Territorial period. 

Moreover, the careers of Lucas and Cham- 
bers — the one born in Virginia and expe- 
rienced in Ohio, the other born in New Jer- 
sey and experienced in Kentucky — suggest 
and in a measure illustrate the intermingling 
of northern and southern peoples and insti- 
tutions in the early history of Iowa. 

But the larger interest in these biogra- 
phies will be discovered in the view which 
they reveal of that wonderful Westward 
Movement which peopled the Mississippi 
Valley and laid the foundations of an em- 
pire of American Pioneers. 

Benj. F. Shambaugh 

Office of the Superintendent and Editor 

The State Historical Society of Iowa 

Iowa City 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

The story of John Chambers, second Governor 
of the Territory of Iowa, reaches from the 
coast State of New Jersey during the Bevolu- 
tionary War out through the State of Kentucky 
in the time of its early settlement and growth 
to the pioneer Territory of Iowa in the days 
when it was making awkward but positive 
strides toward Statehood. It runs through 
more than seventy of the years of early devel- 
opment of the Nation, and of that development 
it tells a part. 

To the State of Kentucky he gave more than 
forty of his active years; to the Territory of 
Iowa less than five. Yet these scant five years 
constitute the most useful period of his public 
service. In them came to fruition the expe- 
rience of the long preceding period; and in 
them came the opportunity offered by a posi- 
tion of greater influence. 

The writing of the present volume was under- 
taken upon the suggestion of Dr. Benj. F. 
Shambaugh, Superintendent of The State His- 



x AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

torical Society of Iowa and editor of the Iowa 
Biographical Series. Upon a preliminary trip 
to Kentucky, Dr. Shambaugh found in the pos- 
session of Mrs. Henry Chambers of Louisville 
an unpublished manuscript autobiography of 
John Chambers and other valuable letters and 
papers which were kindly loaned to The State 
Historical Society of Iowa — the autobiography 
for purposes of publication, and the other 
papers for use in the preparation of a biogra- 
phy. Further material was collected in Iowa, 
in various towns of Kentucky, and in Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

The author desires to make the most grate- 
ful acknowledgments to Mr. John Chambers of 
Louisville, Kentucky, a grandson of the Gov- 
ernor, to his mother Mrs. Henry Chambers, 
and to Mr. Harry Brent Mackoy of Covington, 
Kentucky, a great grandson of Governor Cham- 
bers, who have not only made accessible valu- 
able manuscript sources but have done all in 
their power to give assistance and encourage- 
ment to the work. 

Acknowledgements are due to Colonel Reuben 
T. Durrett of Louisville, Kentucky, for unre- 
stricted access to his large private library which 
contains files of newspapers and rare books 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi 

obtainable nowhere else and without which 
parts of the present volume could not have 
been written. 

For the loan of letters and for other valuable 
assistance the author is indebted to Mrs. Han- 
nah Chambers Forman of Chicago, Mrs. H. H. 
Woodall of Covington, Kentucky, Mr. Throck- 
morton Forman of Cincinnati, Mr. John W. 
Townsend of Lexington, Kentucky, Mr. W. H. 
Mackoy of Covington, Kentucky, Dr. Thomas 
Pickett of Maysville, Kentucky, to Colonel 
Maltby and to Mr. Lucien Maltby and his family 
who now live in the old home of John Chambers 
at Cedar Hill near Washington, Kentucky, and 
to the officials of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington, the Library of Congress, and the 
Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, D. C. 

In particular the author is grateful for the 
kindly aid and encouragement given by the 
editor of the series, Dr. Benj. F. Shambaugh, 
from the inception of the work down to the 
reading of the last proofs. 

John Carl Parish 



CONTENTS 

I. From Ireland to Kentucky 1 

II. Early Life 12 

III. A Kentucky Lawyer 18 

IV. The War of 1812 28 

V. A Decade of Relief Laws 38 

VI. The Desha Trial 48 

VII. Legislative Affairs 65 

VIII. Congressman from Kentucky 79 

IX. The Log Cabin Campaign 94 

X. With Harrison in the White House 106 

XI. Beyond the Mississippi 115 

XII. Governor of the Territory of Iowa . 127 

XIII. State Government and Boundaries . . 143 

XIV. Indian Affairs 162 

XV. The Years of Twilight 190 

Notes and References 203 

Index 265 



PLATES 

John Chambers, from an oil portrait . . frontispiece 
John Chambers, from an ivory miniature 

opposite 26 
Hannah Taylor Chambers, from an ivory 

miniature opposite 26 



I 

From Ireland to Kentucky 

The lines upon which is threaded the ancestry 
of onr people run westward. They come from 
the far side of the Atlantic and cross to our 
eastern seaboard. A few going no further wind 
their succession of generations about a group of 
New England villages or find their way clear 
and distinct down through the families of the 
Old Dominion. But most of these lines now 
reach out beyond the mountains. Sometimes 
from their inland stretching they waver back 
again to the coast, but more often they follow 
mountain gap and westering river until they 
have made their way to the Mississippi Valley, 
peopled the great plains, and reached the utter- 
most confines of the land. Along these wavering 
lines run the records of battle and bloodshed, 
flood and famine, suffering and sickness, peace 
and prosperity. Crossing and recrossing, min- 
gling and intermingling, they interlace the con- 
tinent; and their aggregate is the story of the 
American Nation. 



2 JOHN CHAMBERS 

The line of paternal ancestry of John Cham- 
bers, second Governor of the Territory of Iowa, 
runs back through four generations to the Prov- 
ince of Ulster, in Ireland. Here his great 
grandfather lived; and it is a family tradition 
that his forbears of the preceding century had 
crossed over from Scotland where they belonged 
to the Highland clan of Cameron and bore the 
clan name. 1 In the county of Antrim, in this 
Irish Province of Ulster, there was born in the 
year 1716 James Chambers, the third son of 
Eowland and Elizabeth Chambers and the 
grandfather of John Chambers. 2 

About four years later Eowland Chambers 
with his wife and children bade farewell to 
Ireland and, crossing the Atlantic, came at last 
to the rugged valley of the Susquehanna in the 
colony of Pennsylvania. Some miles below 
Harrisburg he bought a farm of about four 
hundred acres, located on the eastern bank of 
the Susquehanna Eiver and north of Conewago 
Creek. 3 A hint of his occupation is given by the 
fact that the place was known as Chambers' 
Ferry. The remainder of his days were spent 
in this locality; and here, in what is now Dau- 
phin County, his son James, whom he had 
brought with him from Ireland at the age of 
four years, grew to manhood. It was some- 



FROM IRELAND TO KENTUCKY 3 

where near the year 1738 that James Chambers 
married an Irish girl named Sarah Lee, whom 
her grandson describes as "a woman of 
strong and cultivated mind and imperious tem- 
per". 4 

The children of James and Sarah Chambers 
were seven in number; and among them, born 
about 1744, was Eowland, father of Governor 
John Chambers. 5 Now it happened that Row- 
land's mother had a sister, Betty Lee, who had 
married one Joseph Forman and was living in 
New York. And so to that busy port, in his 
young manhood, Rowland Chambers was sent 
to become a clerk in his " Uncle Josey V mer- 
cantile establishment. Thus the line ran back 
for a time to the coast. 

After a few years Joseph Forman died ; but 
Rowland remained in the city and became con- 
nected with business that required him to make 
a number of voyages to European ports. It was 
perhaps not far from the year 1768 that he mar- 
ried Phoebe Mullican, an orphan girl living on 
Long Island. Not long before the outbreak of 
the Revolutionary War he left New York and 
formed a partnership with an Englishman, John 
Martin by name, who owned a farm and mills 
on the Raritan River in Somerset County, New 
Jersey. The place was known at the time as 



4 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Bromley Bridge. Besides the mills they opened 
a large retail store and began a prosperous 
business in the products of the country. 

But the prosperity was short lived; the ap- 
proach of hostilities between the colonies and 
the mother country brought calamitous results. 
One day there came a message to Eowland 
Chambers from his partner asking him to come 
to New York City with all the money he could 
collect. The unsuspecting Chambers complied, 
and Martin, after calmly receiving the funds, 
informed him that he was hiding from the 
American authorities and that there was in the 
harbor at that moment a boat ready to sail with 
him for England. In vain did Chambers urge 
an adjustment of their business affairs. 

The thing that appealed to Mr. John Martin 
was the necessity of getting out of the country, 
and he would hear to no delay. He promised, 
however, to send from England full evidence of 
the ownership of Chambers to the entire prop- 
erty in New Jersey. He sailed away and soon 
afterward died in England, without having re- 
deemed his promise. Chambers settled up the 
affairs of the firm, paid all the debts, and then 
discontinued the store. The mills he still kept 
in operation. 6 

Actual warfare had now commenced. The 



FROM IRELAND TO KENTUCKY 5 

Continental Congress had drawn up and signed 
the Declaration of Independence, and through- 
out the little strip of colonies men were laying 
aside the plough or closing their business houses 
and taking up arms. Rowland Chambers, ar- 
dent in his support of the cause of the Ameri- 
can colonies, left his mills and joined the Revo- 
lutionary Army, finding service in the New 
Jersey militia. 7 

One noonday lightning struck the mills at 
Bromley Bridge, and when night shut down 
there were left only blackened embers. Hence 
forth the name Bromley Bridge gradually 
passed away and the place came to be known as 
the Burnt Mills. Disasters now did not come 
singly. On the first tour of army duty the un- 
accustomed exposure so crippled Rowland 
Chambers with rheumatism that he was finally 
obliged to leave the service after he had for 
some time persisted in his duties, being lifted 
to and from his saddle. 

His heart was, however, no less with the 
cause than before; and he found new channels 
for the exercise of his patriotism. He now gave 
his time to the securing of supplies. The prod- 
ucts of his farm went to support the starving 
army and his means helped to clothe it. And, 
by reason of his generosity, each year that 



6 JOHN CHAMBERS 

brought the Revolution nearer to a close saw 
further depletion of the Chambers fortune. 

In the year 1780, on the sixth of October, 
John Chambers, the fourth son of Rowland, was 
born. In the days of his infancy the long strug- 
gle with England ended and peace came upon 
the land. But the evils of war often show them- 
selves most clearly in the aftermath. The men 
who had for months and years followed the for- 
tunes of battle returned, restless and unsettled 
in habits, to neglected farms and disorganized 
business affairs; and the process of rebuilding 
was slow and difficult. 

In the years of his connection with the army 
and his subsequent association with army offi- 
cers Rowland Chambers fell into ways of intem- 
perance that boded ill for the recovery of his 
former circumstances. His vigorous mind nat- 
urally drew him into the affairs connected with 
the organization of government ; and meanwhile 
matters at home were neglected and almost 
abandoned. Poverty and ruin came apace. The 
final act in the dissolution of the family fortune 
came when the heirs of John Martin crossed 
over from England and claimed the land upon 
which Rowland Chambers and his family lived. 

In this time of dire discouragement there 
came, out of the West, Rowland's oldest son 



FROM IRELAND TO KENTUCKY 7 

William. Years before, William had crossed 
the mountains and made his way into the land 
of Kentucky; and his glowing account of the 
frontier now brought hope to the despairing 
family. It was a voice "behind the ranges" 
that had been calling since the time of Boone — 
a call that had in it a warning of danger that 
was a challenge to the hardy, that told of 
much to risk and much to gain. It was a call 
that passed by the weakling and drew to the 
Licking Valley men long of limb and stout of 
heart. Years before the voice had whispered 
to the struggling men in the mountains of wes- 
tern Virginia; and shouldering their rifles the 
gaunt mountaineers strode down into the val- 
ley that offered them a more plentiful living. 
Again it called and restless spirits from nearer 
the shore line — men whose means had van- 
ished with the War — packed their few posses- 
sions and traversed the mountain passes into 
the new West. 

So the call came to Rowland Chambers, and 
it found a willing response. He sold the stock 
and remaining property, and packed beds, fur- 
niture, clothing, and provisions into two large 
Jersey wagons. They did not make the journey 
alone. The family of Eobert Davis — who had 
married Phoebe, the oldest daughter of Row- 



8 JOHN CHAMBERS 

land Chambers — and the family of Peter 
Davis, his brother, accompanied them — each 
with a stout wagon and team of horses. 8 

The little party left New Jersey in the sum- 
mer of 1794 and began the slow and laborious 
journey across the mountains of Pennsylvania. 
Over the mountains and along streams, by 
rocky gorges and scarcely broken roads they 
made their way — the men and boys walking 
the entire distance, while the women and chil- 
dren rode in the wagons. Eowland himself 
went by way of New York City, and it was many 
days before he overtook the party in the Monon- 
gahela country. For several weeks they were 
delayed at the Monongahela Eiver waiting for 
boats; and here they found themselves in the 
midst of the Whiskey Insurrection which was 
at its height in western Pennsylvania in the 
late summer of that year. 

At length they secured boats and embarked. 
They were weeks upon the water, for the river 
trip was in those days a laborious passage. It 
was particularly so in time of low water when 
the shifting river channel and the numerous 
submerged rocks and sunken trees made it not 
only difficult but dangerous. From the Monon- 
gahela they entered the Ohio at Pittsburg. 
Down its waters the boats carried the emi- 



FROM IRELAND TO KENTUCKY 9 

grants, past Wheeling, past the town of Mari- 
etta at the mouth of the Muskingum, and 
past the Scioto where the town of Portsmouth 
had not yet sprung into existence. At length 
they reached a place where on the southern 
side a little creek emptied its waters from the 
lime-rock hills above into the curve of the great 
river. Here was the port of Limestone — fa- 
mous among all those who knew the West as the 
point of entrance into Kentucky for Ohio River 
emigrants. 9 

To-day the town of Maysville, the county seat 
of Mason County, Kentucky, stretches along 
the shore for three miles and fills the lower 
slopes back to where the wooded lime hills rise 
abruptly. But the town of Maysville does not 
to-day occupy a position so important with 
respect to its surroundings as did the landing 
place of Limestone in the days of 1794. On 
the opposite shore, the hills of Ohio parted in 
a gap where a few years later the famous road 
of Ebenezer Zane from Wheeling across Ohio 
broke through to join at Limestone the trail 
into the interior of Kentucky. 10 

It was not mankind that first traced that 
pathway south from the Ohio River. In the 
bygone days when the buffaloes roamed the 
prairies east of the Mississippi River they 



10 JOHN CHAMBEES 

sought out and wore deep into the soil a track 
that wound up the hill from the river and across 
into the heart of the rich blue-grass pasturage. 
And man, coming after, saw the winding rib- 
bon trail and made it his own. Thus began the 
old pioneer road by which thousands who de- 
scended the Ohio climbed the hills back of 
Limestone and reached the midst of the far 
famed land of Kentucky. 

Passing along this road — later so well known 
as the Maysville Turnpike — the men who had 
come by the water route reached Lexington and 
there met those other hardy souls who had 
struggled through the Cumberland Gap and 
toiled along Boone's Wilderness Eoad north- 
ward into the land of promise. 11 But almost at 
the beginning of the road from the river was a 
town that played no small part in the early 
history of Kentucky. When the traveler who 
landed at Limestone reached the uplands back 
of the town he soon found himself in the vil- 
lage of Washington. 

It was into this vicinity that Simon Kenton 
came, away back in the year before the Decla- 
ration of Independence was signed, and raised 
a crop of corn and built a cabin about a mile 
from the present site of the town. 12 In 1785 
the town was laid out, and in the year following 



FROM IRELAND TO KENTUCKY H 

it was organized by the legislature of Vir- 
ginia. 13 If Limestone be styled the northeast 
gateway into Kentucky, it may perhaps be said 
that the keepers of the gate dwelt in the village 
upon the hill. It was the county seat of Mason 
County (which in early days reached from the 
Licking River to the Big Sandy) and into its 
court rooms there gathered a coterie of lawyers 
whose fame was known throughout Kentucky. 
Business houses sprang up and it became a 
prominent place of trade for the population of 
a large surrounding territory. 



II 

Eakly Life 

Late in the month of October, 1794, Rowland 
Chambers and his family disembarked at Lime- 
stone and turned their steps toward the uplands 
of Kentucky. It is perhaps not to be doubted 
that as they toiled up the hills back of the town 
they paused now and then; for, as the road 
turned back and forth in its sinuous way, they 
could look down upon the roofs of the town and 
out over the tops of trees that burned red and 
yellow and brown on either shore and see run- 
ning* smoothly between the broad waters of the 
Ohio. 

Once upon the heights, however, the land of 
their wayside dreams spread out before them; 
and the thought of the noble river that had 
brought them thither faded from their minds 
as their eyes fell upon the promised land. They 
had not traveled far when the town of Wash- 
ington came into view. Strung along both sides 
of the road were more than a hundred houses, 
sheltering a sturdy and active pioneer coni- 

12 



EARLY LIFE 13 

munity. In this year of 1794 one Lewis Craig 
built, on the brow of a little declivity that 
sloped down to the east side of the road, a court- 
house whose ancient walls still speak of the days 
of the town's early fame. 14 And while these 
walls rose and took form from the lime rocks of 
the surrounding hills, there walked into the vil- 
lage a fourteen year old boy whose life was 
associated with the building before he was out 
of his teens and whose voice for near half a 
century rung frequent in its halls. 

Kowland Chambers settled at once in Wash- 
ington. Young John Chambers had not been 
fortunate in his educational advantages. As he 
himself expressed it, he could scarcely read or 
write intelligibly and his language was "cor- 
rupted and mixed up with a sort of 'low 
dutch' " from the associations of his earlier 
boyhood days in New Jersey. 15 To aid in the 
support of the family, John found an opportu- 
nity to clerk in the store of a man named Moore, 
who had just come to Washington and had 
opened up a small stock of goods. His employer 
paid for the boy's board in exchange for his 
services. Later, on somewhat the same basis, 
he clerked for a Mr. Wiggins. 

Thus prosaically, and with little chance for 
mental development, the winter of 1794 passed. 



14 JOHN CHAMBERS 

In the following spring the older brother Wil- 
liam, who had pointed the way to the West, 
again came forward in the role of a godfather 
and offered to send John to school at Transyl- 
vania Seminary in Lexington. In March, 1795, 
the boy entered, and attended the school until 
the summer vacation in July. At this time a 
difficulty existed between the President of the 
institution (Mr. Harry Toulman) and the Trus- 
tees. The doubt as to the resumption of the 
school, together with the perhaps more vital 
fact that his brother could not see his way clear 
to continue his support, led him to return home. 
These four months, then, present the sum total 
of the higher scholastic education of John 
Chambers. Never again did the opportunity 
come for a renewal of his studies — a fact which 
he regretted and lamented to the end of his 
days. 

His return to the household at Washington 
was not, apparently, attended with cordiality 
on the part of his father. In his Autobiography 
he tells of his home-coming as follows : 

I determined to return home, to which my father 
yielded with manifest displeasure, and was very stern 
and distant with me when I got home. I found he was 
cultivating a little field of corn, & the morning after 
my return I got up early and fed & watered his old 



EARLY LIFE 15 

horse and went to ploughing — Nothing was said, 
and after several days diligent labors I had put the 
little field in good order, and then, for the first time 
went down town, where I found a new store just 
opening under the firm of Brownson and Irvin, and 
soon became their assistant behind the counter. In 
all these employments a part of the agreement was 
that they were to pay my boarding at home, so that by 
early rising I could always make my mother's morn- 
ing fires and bring water for the days consumption. 16 

It was not long, however, until Eowland 
Chambers and his wife removed from Wash- 
ington to Augusta, where their daughter, Mrs. 
Eobert Davis, was now living. But John re- 
mained where he was and for two years sold 
goods across the counter of the village store. 

There came a change in the fortunes of the 
young clerk in the year 1797. The position of 
Clerk of the Washington District Court was 
then held by a lawyer named Francis Taylor. 17 
In the latter part of this year Mr. Taylor, de- 
siring a deputy, prevailed upon the employers 
of John Chambers to let the young man go into 
the Clerk's office in that capacity. He agreed 
with John to board and clothe him, and urged 
the value of the use he could make in his spare 
moments of Taylor's library and in particular 
of his law books. An indenture until he at- 
tained his majority was proposed which, says 



16 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Chambers, "I agreed to, with the remark that 
an Indenture of that kind would do very little 
good, as if a sense of duty did not bind me, the 
indenture would not, and I never heard of the 
indenture afterward ' ' .* 8 

On the 18th of October, 1797, John Chambers 
took the oath of office required of the Deputy 
Clerk and began his work. 19 Here was an 
occupation both congenial and profitable and 
it seems to have elicited his most diligent ef- 
forts. During the hours unoccupied in record- 
ing cases and performing other duties, he ap- 
plied himself to the study of law. At the same 
time, during his eighteenth year, he served as 
Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the Town 
of Washington. 20 Thus was he acquiring be- 
fore he was out of his teens an invaluable 
training for his life work. 

He must have performed his duties to the 
eminent satisfaction of Mr. Taylor, for in the 
spring of 1800 he withdrew to his farm on the 
Ohio Eiver, leaving Chambers to carry on the 
office and receive the fees. Taylor still nomi- 
nally retained the clerkship in hopes that it 
would some time develop into a position of 
greater value. This change afforded Chambers 
a fair living, the fees in the first year amount- 
ing to somewhat less than four hundred dollars. 



EARLY LIFE 17 

Out of this sum he supported himself and sent 
a considerable portion for the use of his mother 
at Augusta in the neighboring county of 
Bracken. 

The three years in which John Chambers had 
had access to the library of Francis Taylor had 
been well spent. He had not only read a great 
deal of law but he had spent many hours with 
books of a general nature. He reached his 
twentieth year in October of 1800 and in the 
next month was given a license to practice law. 21 
Thus ended his score of years of apprentice- 
ship ; and with the century he began his career 
as a lawyer. 



Ill 

A Kentucky Lawyer 

John Chambers came early into association 
with the profession of law. He was only seven- 
teen when he entered the office of Francis Tay- 
lor and helped record the trials before one of 
the busiest district courts in Kentucky; and he 
had not yet attained his majority when he came 
into possession of all the rights and privileges 
that pertained to the bar. He retained his 
position as Deputy Clerk and began to gather 
a considerable practice in the inferior courts. 
Soon he was enabled to bring his father and 
mother back to Washington to live with him. 22 
During the session of 1801-1802 the legisla- 
ture of Kentucky abolished the District and 
Quarter Session Courts and established a sys- 
tem of Circuit Courts in their stead. The clerk- 
ship of this new court was an office of some re- 
muneration, and two candidates immediately 
appeared. One was Thomas Marshall, who had 
been Clerk of the Quarter Session Court, and 
the second was Francis Taylor, Clerk of the 

18 



A KENTUCKY LAWYER 19 

old District Court. John Chambers had now 
been performing the duties of Clerk for several 
years, and knew the work thoroughly. His 
friends urged him to become a candidate for 
the new office. The same advice was finally 
given him by one of the three judges in whom 
the power of appointment was vested. This 
judge promised Chambers his own vote and 
expressed the belief that one of the other judges 
would also vote for him. Upon these assurances 
Chambers entered the field. 23 

He was at once denounced for opposing the 
candidacy of Francis Taylor. But he expressed 
the belief that in the years of his deputy clerk- 
ship he had rendered quid pro quo and that jus- 
tice did not require that he refuse to be a can- 
date for any office for which Francis Taylor 
had aspirations. There were, however, further 
complications in the matter. During the pre- 
ceding year the young and lovely Margaret 
Taylor, a half sister of Francis Taylor, had 
come out from Maryland to visit her brother. 
The Deputy Clerk forthwith lost his heart, and 
at the time of the clerkship appointment the 
two were engaged to be married but had told no 
one of the fact. In his Autobiography Cham- 
bers thus describes the outcome of this inter- 
esting situation: 



20 JOHN CHAMBERS 

I consulted her about withdrawing from the contest 
as the evident effect of it was to estrange her brother 
and myself and insure his opposition to her fathers 
consent to our marriage. She met the question as 
only such a woman could. She said my withdrawal 
and our subsequent marriage would give rise and 
plausibility to the imputation that she was sold to me 
as the price of my withdrawal from the contest, and 
altho she knew her brother, being an only son, had 
great influence with her father, she did not fear it. 
She had been raised in his bosom from her very in- 
fancy, without a mother, and she knew he had confi- 
dence in her judgment and prudence and would not 
sacrifice her happiness under any influence that could 
be brought to bear upon him. Mr. Taylor was elected 
Clerk and I soon after informed him of my engage- 
ment to his sister, and stated my object in doing so, 
to be to give him time to communicate with his father, 
as his sister & myself were both about to address him 
on the subject, the reply was very stern and to the 
effect that he would immediately send his sister home 
to her father. I told him such had been her wish, but 
that her health was then very delicate and I had 
earnestly advised her against encountering the jour- 
ney of 500 miles on horseback (then the only means 
of travel), he answered that she could as well make 
the journey then as when she came to Kenty I re- 
minded him that more than half the journey had then 
been made on the river and that her health was then 
good, he persisted however in saying that she should 
return immediately to her father, and upon my tell- 
ing him that in that case I should accompany her. he 



A KENTUCKY LAWYER 21 

answered abruptly that I should not do it — here I 
thought forbearance ought to stop and I told him so, 
and that I would in defiance of him or anybody else 
go with her, and that any attempt to obstruct me 
would be fatal to who ever made it — That if he 
would treat her kindly until her fathers pleasure was 
knowfn], that it was her determination & mine for 
the present to submit to it. I heard no more of her 
being sent away, and in due time her father answered 
her & her brothers & my letters, regret [t]ing that she 
had placed her affections upon a young man who[m] 
he did not know and could not judge of, and espe- 
cially one whom her brother disapproved of. To Mr. 
Taylor he expressed his regret at what had taken 
place, but said he had raised that daughter without a 
mother and she had inspired him not only with the 
most unbounded affection, but with great confidence 
in her judgment and prudence, and to her he was 
willing under all circumstances to commit her fate 
in the matter of her marriage, and that his, Mr. Tay- 
lor's opposition to her marriage he hoped would at 
once cease. 24 

On June 16, 1803, they were married at Mr. 
Taylor's house — Chambers himself describing 
it as " a melancholy scene" whereat "one young 
man at my request, and one young lady at hers, 
attended." 25 

The failure to secure the appointment as 
Clerk was perhaps the best thing that could 
have happened to John Chambers. He turned 



22 JOHN CHAMBERS 

his full attention now to the practice of law, 
making rapid strides in his profession. The 
dockets of the Mason County Circuit for these 
years have apparently not been preserved. The 
only records which give any clue to the amount 
of business enjoyed by individual members of 
the Mason County bar are two manuscript vol- 
umes entitled Record of Personal Actions and 
covering the years 1803, 1804, and 1805. 26 An 
examination of this official record shows that in 
the October term of 1803 somewhere near sev- 
enty-five cases came up before the Circuit Court 
of Mason County. In about thirty of these 
John Chambers was the counsel for the plain- 
tiff. 27 In the September term of the following 
year, out of a total of fifty-three cases Cham- 
bers was employed by the plaintiff in twenty- 
three; while the remaining thirty cases were 
divided among six different attorneys. 28 In the 
September term of 1805 thirty-one cases were 
tried, and in twenty of these actions Chambers 
appeared for the plaintiff; while lawyers of 
such prominence as Adam Beatty, Will Mc- 
Clung, Alexander K. Marshall, Martin P. Mar- 
shall, and others divided the remaining eleven 
among them. 29 The records give no indication 
of the counsel for the defense. When it is con- 
sidered that John Chambers was at this time 



A KENTUCKY LAWYER 23 

between the ages of twenty- three and twenty- 
five, and that the Mason County Circuit con- 
tained one of the strongest bars in the Common- 
wealth, the above record would seem to be an 
index of rather remarkable legal success. 

Chambers had not been married four years 
before he was called upon to mourn the loss of 
his wife Margaret. She died on March 4, 1807, 
and left no children. 30 Some months later he 
made a visit to. the home of his father-in-law, 
Ignatius Taylor, 31 at Hagerstown, Maryland; 
and his own account of his meeting with Han- 
nah Taylor, the half sister of his first wife, is 
too finely naive to be omitted. It is given here 
verbatim. 

On a subsequent visit to Maryland I found your 
dear and excellent mother, just in the full bloom of 
womanhood, admired by every one, and sought after 
by some gay dis[s]apated and unpromising young 
men of "the first families" I at once saw her danger, 
her mother had died two or three years before and 
she was at the head of her fathers family. I advised 
her aunts and sisters to caution her against two young 
men particularly, as unworthy of her, but the answer 
was, they were young men of great promise and well 
connected and would be good matches for any girl in 
the County. My first wife had been dead but a few 
months and I felt the delicacy of proposing so soon 
to marry again. I pondered seriously upon it, and 



24 JOHN CHAMBERS 

ask[ed] myself the question shall, I leave this young 
and lovely creature to be sacrificed to a reckless sot, 
or enter the lists and carry her off, to wait longer may 
be fatal to her future happiness. I hesitated no longer 
and in a few days she flew to my arms for affection 
and protection, and no wife ever more deserved or 
enjoyed both — here let me remark that both the 
young gentlemen, I had wished her to avoid, married 
lovely girls whose parents were rich (one of them a 
cousin of your mother) and ended their respective 
carries [careers] before middle age in great poverty 
and perfectly besotted. 32 

The marriage took place on October 29, 1807, 
It must have been about this time that Cham- 
bers determined to build himself a home. With- 
drawn a little from the row of houses that con- 
stituted Washington, was a hill sloping in a 
long gradual descent to a road parallel to the 
Maysville Pike. On the crest of this hill, facing- 
due east, John Chambers erected a well built 
frame house that, somewhat remodeled, still 
stands proudly holding its own against the de- 
cay that a century has brought upon the once 
proud village. 33 

The wide slope of lawn before the house was 
thick with blue-grass, and with locust trees that 
whitened with bloom in the early summer and 
filled the air with fragrance. To the left were 
trees of June apples and Harvest apples — of 



A* KENTUCKY LAWYER 25 

which the master of the house was so fond that 
in later years when he was in Iowa his relatives 
carefully hoarded them for his occasional home- 
comings. 34 At the foot of the hill a stone wall 
guarded the roadside, and along this wall and 
here and there in the lawn Chambers planted 
cedar trees which he brought home as foot-long 
shoots in his saddle-bags from the Blue Lick 
hills. After a hundred years these cedars, now 
well grown, still keep watch over the place 
which so long ago the owner christened in their 
honor, Cedar Hill. 

The house which Chambers built on the hill- 
top was in keeping with its surroundings. It 
was a two story frame house with a wide hall 
in the center and large rooms on either side. A 
living-room about twenty feet square opened on 
the right of the hall and a dining-room of like 
size on the left. Upstairs were large bed-rooms 
which like the rooms below were fitted with 
large fire-places and wood mantels. Behind the 
house he built a cabin for the servants, and to 
the south a stone dairy house. 

For more than a third of a century the life 
of John Chambers was centered at Cedar Hill. 
It was the birthplace and early home of his chil- 
dren. Here he dwelt on the edge of the busy 
little village and wrote out speeches, planned 



26 JOHN CHAMBERS 

campaigns, and worked over his legal cases. 
Here in later years he entertained the friends 
of his political life. Clay and Crittenden and 
scores of others found open house at Cedar Hill. 
On the broad lawn the lights often swung from 
the locust and cedar trees, while neighbors and 
friends made merry at a sociable or at a cele- 
bration after a political victory. And for days 
before these occasions the household down to 
the small children was kept busily at work 
grinding coffee and blanching almonds. 

Two ivory miniatures made about this time 
show John Chambers as a sturdy young man 
with short brown hair and a clear eye, and Mrs. 
Hannah Chambers as a young woman of rare 
attractiveness and beauty. 35 She was also a 
woman of social abilities and accomplishments. 
John J. Crittenden used to say that Chambers 
ought to be made Minister to France because of 
his wife's diplomacy and her fluency in speak- 
ing the French language. 36 

The years following his second marriage, 
though not lacking in legal opportunities, did 
not prevent John Chambers from indulging 
other fancies. The raising of hemp was a 
prominent occupation in Kentucky, and the 
manufacture of hemp rope was a naturally re- 
sulting industry. So Chambers built, on the 



A KENTUCKY LAWYER 27 

land south of his house, a rope-walk and began 
to make rope for the market. Here under the 
long sheds the men all day long walked back- 
wards, twisting the strands of hemp fibre into 
cables and stern fasts. The undertaking did 
not at first prove a financial success, for Cham- 
bers soon found himself deep in debt and the 
loser of some twenty thousand dollars. How he 
solved the situation is best told in his own 
words : 

I Kept my business to myself and maintained my 
credit until I had struggled pretty well through my 
indebtedness, living economically and wasting noth- 
ing. 37 



IV 

The Wak of 1812 

A generation only had elapsed between the 
close of the Kevohition and the opening of the 
War of 1812, hut in that time marvelous 
changes had taken place in the Ohio Valley. In 
those thirty years mountain pass, wilderness 
trail, and navigable waterway had poured 
thousands of pioneers into the West — hardy 
men and women who had built towns, organized 
governments, and established industries. Back 
to the Congress in the East they sent men in 
whom burned that western spirit of vigor and 
independence. 

When the administration was advancing fear- 
fully and with cringing timidity to the point of 
resisting French and English insults, the West 
was openly and vehemently for war. Xor was 
it because the West would not suffer in such a 
war. Well did the men beyond the mountains 
know that the forts of the Northwest would be 
the objective points; and fully did they realize 

28 



THE WAR OF 1812 29 

that men of Ohio and Kentucky must bear the 
brunt of the fighting. 

To the men of the West war meant more than 
national honor. It meant a struggle for their 
own existence — a fiercely fought conflict for 
the control of the resources that they had with 
such risk and labor wrested from the wilderness. 
The Indian tribes, backed by British influence 
were daily becoming more of a menace. Out- 
breaks and massacres were increasingly preva- 
lent on these western plains while Congress dal- 
lied with the problems east of the mountains. 
And so, when in June, 1812, war was finally 
declared, the West at once took its place in the 
field. 

Out of the quota of fifty-five hundred required 
of the Commonwealth, Kentucky was asked to 
send fifteen hundred men to the aid of Hull at 
Detroit. 38 So great, however, was the patriotic 
ardor of these men that more than two thousand 
were on the march when they met with the news 
of Hull's disastrous defeat and the surrender 
of Detroit. The result of this calamity in Ken- 
tucky was a deep and painful sense of the coun- 
try's need and an immediate response thereto. 
An army, under the command of William Henry 
Harrison and composed largely of Kentuckians, 
began the march to the north intent upon the 



30 JOHN CHAMBERS 

immediate recapture of Detroit and the inva- 
sion of Canada. 

During the year 1812 John Chambers was 
chosen to represent the County of Mason in the 
Kentucky House of Eepresentatives. 39 The ses- 
sion convened early in December. In the execu- 
tive office was the veteran Isaac Shelby who 
had served in the Eevolutionary War and who 
had been chosen in 1792 as Kentucky's first 
Governor. A score of years had in no way 
dimmed the intensity of his spirit. On Decem- 
ber 8, 1812, he sent to the legislature a message 
full of fire and vigor. 40 He discussed at length 
the war situation and was bitter in his denun- 
ciation of Great Britain. They were strong men 
who listened to this message, and the session 
was not unfruitful of response. Among those 
who sat with Chambers in the lower house were 
Eobert McAfee of Mercer County, Chilton Al- 
len of Clarke County, and Thomas Metcalfe of 
Nicholas County — men of great ability and 
strength of character. 41 John Chambers was 
placed upon the Committee on Courts of Jus- 
tice. He also served on the Joint Committee on 
Enrollments. 42 

An interesting incident of this session shows 
somewhat of the spirit of the times. A Circuit 
Judge named David Ballengall was charged 



THE WAR OF 1812 31 

with being an alien and unqualified to serve in 
his position because he had never taken the 
oath of allegiance to the United States. The 
investigation of his case was given to a commit- 
tee of which Chambers was chairman. On 
January 7, the committee reported that Bal- 
lengall was, at the time of his appointment in 
1805, and still was in 1813, an alien; that he 
was born in Scotland and was therefore a citi- 
zen of Great Britain, with whom the United 
States was then at war. The committee recom- 
mended the adoption of a resolution declaring 
him unfit for office. 43 Following this report the 
legislature passed a resolution and an address 
asking for the removal of David Ballengall. 
Whereupon the Scotchman was ousted from the 
office of Circuit Judge. 44 

Meanwhile the recapture of Detroit by Har- 
rison had proved a longer task than the eager 
volunteers had anticipated. Swamps and bad 
roads, made still more impassable by heavy 
fall rains, so delayed the army that at the open- 
ing of the year 1813 Harrison was still at Up- 
per Sandusky. The left wing of the army, 
commanded by General James Winchester and 
composed almost entirely of Kentuckians, was 
somewhat in advance and on the tenth of Janu- 
ary reached the Rapids of the Maumee River. 



32 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Venturing too far and taking too scant precau- 
tions against surprise, Winchester was attacked 
on January 22, 1813, at Frenchtown on the 
Raisin River. 45 His command was routed by 
the British and Indians under General Procter, 
and an indiscriminate butchery by the unre- 
strained savages completed the disaster. 

The blow at Frenchtown came upon the home- 
keepers in Kentucky with terrific effect. At 
Frankfort where the State legislature was as- 
sembled the ill news came with little delay. 
Chambers writes thus of its reception : 

The news of the defeat came by express & arrived 
after night and was suffered to spread in a crowded 
theatre, where the wives and daughters of nearly two 
full companies and many office [r]s were collected. I 
never saw and hope never to see again such another 
scene of wild distress and agony. Many were help- 
less widows and orphans, who went there as they 
thought happy wives & children. 46 

This event removed any trace of inaction 
that may have hung about the State Capital. 
An act amending the militia law and providing 
for the emergency conditions was passed. 47 
Governor Shelby was authorized to raise and 
organize a detachment of militia and agreed to 
take command of the troops in person. Led on 
by this vigorous stimulus, hundreds of Ken- 



THE WAR OF 1812 33 

tuckians volunteered their services with the im- 
pulse of revenge in their hearts and the war cry 
of "Kemember the Eiver Kaisin" on their lips. 
The fighting blood of Kentucky was stirred to 
its depths. 

A letter from Governor Shelby to John Cham- 
bers extended an offer to place him in as fa- 
vorable a position as possible in the body of 
troops. 48 But Chambers had already promised 
to join General Harrison as a volunteer aid-de- 
camp. The first few days of September, 1813, 
found him with the General's staff at Camp 
Seneca on the Sandusky Eiver. 49 Here was a 
new field. "Ignorant as the horse I rode", he 
says, ' ' of everything like military life, I had to 
begin with the a, b, c, of my study, but deter- 
mined to make myself useful if possible, I began 
to look about me for something to do, and from 
the deranged state of the Genls. military papers, 
I soon found employment for myself and two 
educated soldiers, (drunken lawyers who having 
ruined themselves by their intemperance took 
shelter from starvation by enlisting) with their 
labour under my direction I soon produced or- 
der out of confusion, to the generals very great 
gratification. ' ' 50 

The army did not remain many days longer 
in camp. Oliver Hazard Perry, on the 10th of 

3 



34 JOHN CHAMBERS 

September, won his brilliant victory from the 
British squadron on Lake Erie; and the for- 
tunes of war smiled at last upon the American 
forces. From Camp Seneca, General Harrison 
heard the guns booming on the Lake, and inspir- 
ited by the famous message of Perry, "We have 
met the enemy and they are ours", lost no time 
in pushing to the front. 51 At the shore of the 
Lake they were joined by Governor Shelby and 
his reinforcements. A few days later the com- 
bined army was placed on board the ships of 
the squadron and a number of transports, and 
was on its way across the Lake, eager for the 
invasion of foreign soil. 52 

Meanwhile General Procter, who had retreat- 
ed after his futile attempts to invade Ohio to 
the vicinity of Detroit and Maiden, looked upon 
the movements of Harrison's army with terror; 
and when the American commander boarded 
vessels and commenced crossing Lake Erie with 
his army reenforced by Shelby's Kentuckians, 
he himself "remembered the Eiver Raisin" and, 
gathering together his army, retreated up the 
Eiver Thames, paying no heed to the contemp- 
tuous taunts of the Indians nor to the remark 
of Tecumseh that he was running away like a 
dog with his tail between his legs. 53 Many of 
the naked allies now deserted him ; but Tecum- 



THE WAR OF 1812 35 

sell, in spite of his contempt for Procter's cow- 
ardice, remained faithful with over a thousand 
Indians. 

On the twenty- seventh of September the army 
under Harrison landed on Canadian soil. Proc- 
ter had begun his retreat on the twenty-fourth. 
Harrison was now delayed waiting for the ar- 
rival of Colonel Richard M. Johnson's mounted 
regiment, and the pursuit began with the enemy 
a week in advance. This was ample time for an 
efficient commander to make good his escape. 
But General Procter did not seem to believe that 
he would be followed vigorously. According to 
his own report, he took his way eastward "by 
easy marches". 54 Less than a week, therefore, 
ended the chase. 

Not far from the old Moravian town on the 
bank of the River Thames, on October 5, 1813, 
Procter was forced into action. Flanked on 
the left by the river and on the right by a 
swamp, the British and Indians occupied a 
strong position. But the Americans had the 
advantage of numbers and the day for the 
avenging of the River Raisin had come. A 
vigorous assault put the British to rout, but 
was not so successful against the Indians. The 
great leader of the savages, however, fell mor- 
tally wounded and with the death of Tecumseh 



36 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the spirit of his followers vanished. The Ken- 
tuckians, keenly mindful of the Eiver Baisin, 
pressed hotly to the attack upon the Indians. 
From the thighs of a fallen warrior whom they 
took to be Tecumseh, they are said to have cut 
long strips of skin to carry triumphantly back 
to Kentucky for razor strops. 55 

General Procter fled early in the battle, but 
not without pursuers. Harrison's two aids, 
Charles S. Todd and John Chambers, together 
with Majors Wood and Payne and a handful of 
others, followed the fleeing General mile after 
mile until he was forced to leave the road and 
escaped only after abandoning his carriage, 
sword, and papers. 56 

The battle of the Thames was a decisive 
victory and brought no little joy to the invad- 
ing army and to the country at large. In his 
report to the War Department, General Har- 
rison made special mention of John Chambers 
both as to his general performance of duties 
and in connection with the spirited pursuit of 
the British General. 57 Nine days after the bat- 
tle General Harrison wrote a letter to Cham- 
bers expressing his sincere thanks for his serv- 
ices and granting him permission to return to 
Kentucky, now that the active operations of 
the campaign were closed. 58 



THE WAR OF 1812 37 

Thus ended the brief military career of John 
Chambers. It was scarcely sufficient to mark 
him as a military man, yet it was enough to 
prove his courage in action and it afforded an 
excuse — little needed in the gallant land of 
Kentucky — for the attachment to his name of 
the title Major, which under stress of political 
exigency was sometimes increased to Colonel 
by the non-military forces that plan out and lay 
siege to the offices of the State or National 
administration. 



A Decade of Belief Laws 

Dubing the decade which followed the War of 
1812 John Chambers seems to have busied him- 
self largely with the practice of law. The 
Order Boohs of the Mason County Circuit Court 
give no record of attorneys employed in the 
various cases, but fugitive references indicate 
that he was in partnership with one Taylor. 
This partnership ended in the year 1816. 59 
Later he had as a law partner James A. Pax- 
ton, a distant relative who died in 1825. 60 

In the year 1814 Chambers was urged to be- 
come a candidate for a seat in the Kentucky 
legislature but declined to do so; and when, in 
the year after, he was elected to represent 
Mason County in the lower house it was, as he 
expressed it, "very contrary to both my incli- 
nation and interest." 61 The part he took in 
this session does not seem to have been con- 
spicuous. He served, as before, on the Com- 
mittee on Courts of Justice. Some of the topics 
under consideration by this legislature were the 

38 



A DECADE OF RELIEF LAWS 39 

boundary dispute between Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky, retaliatory measures against Indiana 
because of the action of that Territory in pro- 
hibiting the practice of Kentucky attorneys 
within its borders, relief legislation in behalf 
of the debtor class, and legislation for the build- 
ing and improvement of turnpike roads. A 
large proportion of private laws was passed, 
several of which concerned Mason County. 62 

During this session an act was passed renew- 
ing the provision made by the preceding legis- 
lature allowing debtors to stay the execution of 
a judgment for a period of twelve months in- 
stead of three. The conditions in Kentucky 
which brought about this legislation and the 
train of consequences which followed the pur- 
suit of so short-sighted a policy are of basic im- 
portance to the understanding of Kentucky his- 
tory for the next decade and in the interpreta- 
tion of conditions which materially affected the 
life of John Chambers. 

Following the session of 1815-1816 Chambers 
did not again act in a legislative capacity until 
1828 when he was elected to Congress. 63 Dur- 
ing this period his law practice was evidently 
attended with success. In 1819 he was commis- 
sioned as a Justice of the Peace and served un- 
til 1823. 64 In 1820 lie was appointed by Gover- 



40 JOHN CHAMBERS 

nor Slaughter to the office of Commonwealth 
Attorney for the First District — a position of 
honor and one requiring legal ability of a high 
order. 65 

During these years Kentucky was passing 
through a period of financial tribulation that 
sadly retarded the development of the State 
and arrayed men in a struggle in which the bit- 
terness of feeling rivalled that which prevailed 
during the War for the Union and during the 
recent troubles over the raising of tobacco 
crops. 60 The great mass of the population of 
Kentucky was exceedingly ignorant of the ele- 
mentary principles of public finance. Nobly had 
they defended the State from the savage tribes 
and built up industries and institutions; but 
the theories of financial legislation and the prin- 
ciples which underlie sound banking seemed be- 
yond their comprehension. 

The War of 1812, in which Kentucky had 
spent so much of its best blood and resources 
in the defense of Ohio and the Northwest, left 
the State in an impoverished condition. A large 
portion of the population was in debt and with- 
out the means of payment. This widespread 
state of affairs gave rise to a popular clamor 
for legislation in behalf of the debtor class. In 
response to this demand, the legislature of Ken- 



A DECADE OP RELIEF LAWS 41 

tucky passed an act in February, 1815, extend- 
ing the time allowed for the stay of a judgment 
from three to twelve months. The act was to 
be in force for one year, but was renewed in 
the session of 1815-1816 and by succeeding leg- 
islatures. 67 

The natural result of this legislation was a 
tightening of the loan market and a withdrawal 
of money from circulation. Conditions grew 
steadily worse; and the popular party, which 
came to be generally known as the Eelief Party, 
began to urge an artificial and extensive in- 
crease of the circulating medium. The Eelief 
Party finally procured, in January, 1818, the 
passage of an act establishing some forty inde- 
pendent banks subject to no State control or 
supervision and empowered to issue notes re- 
deemable either in specie or in the notes of the 
Bank of Kentucky or the Bank of the United 
States. 

The new banks scattered money broadcast, 
but in most cases soon went into bankruptcy — 
after having flooded the State with a currency 
that soon depreciated and only intensified the 
economic distress. Two years later, in Febru- 
ary, 1820, the legislature repealed the Independ- 
ent Bank Act; but, throwing the fruit of five 
years' experience to the wind, they enacted at 



42 JOHN CHAMBEES 

the same session a law extending the time for 
the stay of an execution from one year to 
two years, unless the creditor agreed to accept 
in payment notes of the Bank of Kentucky. 68 

Still went up that unthinking clamor for more 
money ; and in November of 1820 the legislature 

— the infatuated servant of the Eelief Party — 
jumped from the frying pan of financial unwis- 
dom and shortsightedness into the fire of hope- 
less economic idiocy by the creation of a Bank 
of the Commonwealth with such provisions that 
it could do no otherwise than complete the 
wreck of the State's finances. 69 

A mother bank with branches was established, 
the entire capital — fixed at two million dollars 

— to be held by the State of Kentucky. The 
sources of its capital stock were to be the pub- 
lic lands and the unappropriated surplus in the 
Treasury of the State at the end of each session. 
The capital stock of the Bank of Kentucky was 
also to be considered a part of the capital stock 
of the Bank of the Commonwealth. Money 
from the first of these sources was incapable of 
ready realization ; funds from the second source 
seldom if ever had an existence, and it was evi- 
dent that the capital of the Bank of Kentucky 
was fully needed by that institution without 
being stretched to cover the new one as well. 70 



A DECADE OF RELIEF LAWS 43 

Yet upon this ephemeral basis the Bank of 
the Commonwealth was allowed to issue notes 
to the amount of three million dollars, to con- 
tract indebtedness to double the amount of its 
capitalization, and to make loans subject to 
manifold regulations. Its notes were made re- 
ceivable throughout the State for taxes. The 
legislature which passed this act, after making 
further provisions with the purpose of forcing 
the notes of the new bank into circulation, ap- 
pointed new directors of the Bank of Kentucky 
to insure that bank's acceptance of the notes of 
the new bank and then adjourned. 

The Bank of Kentucky, once a sound institu- 
tion, was now nearing a collapse; while the 
notes of the new bank soon depreciated to fifty 
per cent of their face value. The creditor was 
presented with the unpleasant option of receiv- 
ing notes worth half the amount of the loan or 
waiting two years for an uncertain payment. 
Ajiarchy reigned in the Commonwealth, and 
hundred of citizens moved beyond its borders. 71 

It was not long until the monetary question 
came before the judiciary. In the fall term of 
1823 a case which involved the stay of judg- 
ments came before the highest court of Ken- 
tucky, the Court of Appeals. 72 This Court was 
composed of three Judges — John Boyle, Chief 



44 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Justice, and William Owsley and Benjamin 
Mills, Associate Judges. The Belief Party, 
fearful of a decision contrary to its legislation, 
used every manner of intimidation and threat 
to influence the men on the bench, but without 
avail. The Court unanimously decided that the 
law extending the term of stay was in violation 
of the United States Constitution since it im- 
paired the obligation of contracts. 73 

Immediate and intense was the outbreak of 
wrath on the part of the Eelief Party. With a 
strong majority in the State, they looked upon 
the action of the Court as an unwarranted 
thwarting of the will of the people. Arrayed in 
support of the three Judges was the Anti-Belief 
Party, composed of the conservative elements of 
the State's population. Of this latter party 
were the great mass of the merchants, business 
men, and the legal profession. The Belief Par- 
ty, however, numbered among its leaders some 
of the most prominent attorneys of the State. 
George M. Bibb, John Bowan, William T. Bar- 
ry, Solomon P. Sharpe, and others allowed 
themselves to be carried with the current of 
popular feeling and fought for the relief meas- 
ures with an intensity and persistence that 
would have done grace to a far better cause. 
Among the leaders of the Anti-Belief Party 



A DECADE OF RELIEF LAWS 45 

were George Robertson, Robert Wicliffe, and 
Chilton Allen. 

Now that the Court of Appeals had definitely 
passed upon the matter, the popular party 
turned once more to the legislature for help. 
The Judges were commissioned to serve during 
good behavior and were removable only by im- 
peachment or by an address of the legislature 
carried by a two-thirds vote in each house. Thus 
the election of 1824 became the scene of the 
next conflict in the hope that a sufficient ma- 
jority might be chosen to accomplish the re- 
moval of the Judges. They elected Joseph 
Desha, their partisan candidate for Governor, 
but failed to get a majority of two-thirds in the 
two houses. 

Thwarted in their attempt to legally remove 
the offending Judges, they turned to the expe- 
dient of legislating them out of office. Amid 
overwhelming excitement a bill was introduced 
and passed repealing all the acts establishing 
the Court of Appeals, and organizing in its 
stead a new Court of Appeals having the same 
jurisdiction and duties. 74 Upon this new bench 
were placed four of the prominent leaders of 
the Relief Party. The position of Chief Jus- 
tice was given to William T. Barry, whom Gov- 
ernor Desha upon coming into office had ap- 



46 JOHN CHAMBERS 

pointed as Secretary of State. Francis P. 
Blair, Clerk of the new Court, secured forcible 
possession of the records of the Court of Ap- 
peals and the popular tribunal began its work. 

The Judges of the old Court, however, re- 
fused to leave office. They calmly met at their 
next session, issued an address to the people 
stating their position, and continued to try 
cases. Thus for term after term two Courts 
met side by side, heard appeals and gave deci- 
sions, each claiming to be the true Court of last 
resort. A majority of the attorneys of the 
State, however, carried their cases to the Old 
Court for adjudication. 75 

Meantime, over the State, indignation meet- 
ings were being held and excitement waxed furi- 
ous. The opposing forces now came to be known 
as the Old Court Party and the New Court 
Party. In Mason County a meeting was held 
in Washington at which resolutions were passed 
declaring the act reorganizing the Court null 
and void, and maintaining that Messrs. Boyle, 
Owsley, and Mills were still the true Court of 
Appeals. The resolutions were supported by 
Bobert Taylor, John Chambers, and Adam 
Beatty, and opposed by Jacob A. Slack and W. 
Worthington. 76 

In 1825 the Old Court Party won a majority 



A DECADE OF RELIEF LAWS 47 

in the lower house but the Senate was still in 
control of the New Court Party. Governor 
Desha opened the session by a message denounc- 
ing the Old Court, the United States Bank, and 
the United States Supreme Court and applaud- 
ing the revolutionary act reorganizing the 
Court of Appeals. The reaction came at last 
in the election of 1826. The Old Court Party 
gained control of both houses, and on December 
30, 1826, repealed the Eeorganization Act and 
re-established the old Court of Appeals. 77 Thus 
was the course of the three steadfast Judges 
justified, while the New Court dropped from 
existence. The act was vetoed by Governor 
Desha, but was subsequently passed over his 
veto. Gradually Kentucky won its way back to 
safety and sanity. 



VI 
The Desha Tkial 

In the same issue of the Maysville Eagle which 
contained the inaugural message of Governor 
Joseph Desha to the newly convened legislature 
in 1824 there appeared a six inch item entitled 
"Horrid Murder". 78 It told of the discovery 
on November 8 of the dead body of Francis 
Baker near the road about five miles from the 
town of Mayslick. A week later, November 17, 
1824, the same paper announced that suspicion 
had fallen upon Isaac B. Desha, the son of the 
Governor of the State, and that he had been 
arrested and conveyed for preliminary examina- 
tion to Flemingsburg, the county seat of Flem- 
ing County. 

Now it so happened that Fleming County, in 
which the murder had been committed, was one 
of the counties making up the district for which 
John Chambers was Commonwealth Attorney. 
It naturally devolved upon him, therefore, to 
prosecute the case for the State. Under the be- 
lief, however, that Desha could not receive jus- 

48 



THE DESHA TRIAL 49 

tice in Fleming County, the legislature, on De- 
cember 4, passed a special act allowing the 
accused to choose whether he would be tried in 
the Circuit Court of Fleming or of Harrison 
County. 79 Desha chose the latter, and, since 
this county was in the district of which William 
K. Wall was the Commonwealth Attorney, the 
duty of prosecution was removed from the 
shoulders of Chambers and thrown upon those 
of Wall. This met with the approval of Cham- 
bers who later expressed himself as of the opin- 
ion that "justice sanctioned the measure ,, . 8 ° 

Coming as it did in the most heated period of 
the monetary conflict described in the preceding 
chapter, the surroundings and political connec- 
tions of this trial threw it distinctly into the 
limelight. Governor Desha, the father of the 
accused, had just taken office and appointed as 
Secretary of State, William T. Barry, perhaps 
the most prominent leader of the Belief Party. 81 
He now turned to Barry for aid in the defense 
of his son. John Eowan, who had just been 
chosen United States Senator, also acted as 
counsel for the defense. 82 It was John Eowan, 
who, in the preceding session of the Kentucky 
legislature had so strenuously pressed the leg- 
islative independence of judicial decisions and 
the nullification of the unpopular decrees of the 

4 



50 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Court of Appeals. 83 There were few more pow- 
erful lawyers in the State than William T. Bar- 
ry and John Eowan. With them were associa- 
ted in the Desha trial, William Brown and an 
attorney named Taul. 

Confronted by this array of legal talent the 
prosecuting attorney of the second district, 
upon whom the change of venue had thrown 
this important trial, felt keenly the need of as- 
sistance. The most natural man to turn to was 
the Commonwealth Attorney of the district in 
which the crime was committed and from which 
the venue had been changed. Wall, conse- 
quently, appealed to Chambers for assistance 
in the case. Chambers declined, but after re- 
peated urging complied and came to the aid of 
his fellow prosecutor. Martin P. Marshall was 
also engaged by the friends of the murdered 
man. 

A special term of court was appointed for 
the trial, to begin on January 17, 1825. After 
two judges had declined to hear the case, Judge 
Shannon of Lexington was induced to attend; 
and at Cynthiana in Harrison County the trial 
opened. 84 Two days were consumed in securing 
a jury. About forty-five jurors were chal- 
lenged for cause and excused, and nine were 
challenged peremptorily. On Wednesday, Janu- 



THE DESHA TRIAL 51 

ary 19, the jury was complete and, closely fol- 
lowed by an excited audience, the examination 
of witnesses began. 85 

It appeared from the evidence that Francis 
Baker, a stranger in Kentucky, stopped on the 
evening of November 1 at the tavern of Zede- 
kiah Moore. He was riding a gray mare, and 
had with him about one hundred dollars. At 
sunrise the next morning he departed for the 
tavern of Richard Doggate, five miles away. 
Here the wayfaring stranger fell in with Isaac 
Desha and breakfasted with him. Nancy Dog- 
gate, the daughter of the tavern-keeper, testi- 
fied that after breakfast Baker started from the 
tavern first, but was soon overtaken by Desha 
and that the two rode on together. 86 

A little later in that same morning Milton 
Ball saw a gray mare come trotting up the lane 
at his father's place. He caught her and rode 
back in the direction from which she had come. 
Soon he met Desha's horse with blood upon its 
neck and withers, and further on he came upon 
Desha himself, walking and carrying Baker's 
saddle-bags. They were joined a little later by 
Elismon 87 Ball, who, following his brother, had 
mounted Desha's horse. After some conversa- 
tion in which Desha explained that he had cut 
himself and that he had bought the mare of a 



52 JOHN CHAMBEKS 

stranger, they parted. Six days later Milton 
and Elismon Ball found the body of Francis 
Baker. 

For about a week witnesses were examined, 
the identity of the gray mare, the bloody saddle- 
bags, and a number of other details forming the 
nucleus of the evidence. Throughout the taking 
of testimony the prisoner, a young man of 
twenty-three, sat with unruffled composure; 
while his father, the Governor, from his place 
beside the counsel, observed with a keen eye 
each witness who came upon the stand, signs 
of the deep and intense feeling that stirred him 
occasionally showing upon his countenance. 88 

Finally the testimony closed and the counsel 
began their addresses to the jury. Martin P. 
Marshall opened for the prosecution and was 
followed by Wall, who took occasion to state 
that Marshall appeared upon the request of the 
friends of the deceased and that Chambers had 
given a reluctant assent to repeated solicita- 
tions by Wall to aid him in the matter. Mr. 
Taul of the defense occupied the remainder of 
the day, and Colonel Brown occupied the entire 
following day. 

On Thursday morning, January 27, William 
T. Barry arose and began his argument. 89 
There now came an exhibition of the feeling 



THE DESHA TRIAL 53 

which the relief laws had stirred up in Ken- 
tucky. Here was the son of the Governor, whom 
the Belief Party had just placed in office, on 
trial for murder. In his behalf were engaged 
two of the most prominent leaders of that party, 
while on the part of the prosecution was as de- 
cided if not as prominent an opponent of the 
policies for which they so vehemently fought. 
A murder trial in itself is likely to provoke in- 
teresting tilts between opposing counsel. A 
murder trial so projected into the midst of the 
most exciting and intense civil discord that had 
ever convulsed the State could scarcely be other- 
wise than bitter. 

At the opening of his address Barry descant- 
ed upon the right to a fair trial and upon the 
nobility and good character of young Desha. 
He then turned the heavy guns of his eloquence 
upon the party spirit which he intimated had 
led to the "extraneous assistance on the part 
of the prosecution". "He would rather his 
right arm should fall from its socket ; oppressed 
and embarrassed as he was he would sooner 
seize the plow, or even beg his bread than stoop 
to volunteer his services against the life of any 
human being upon earth. ' ' 90 

"Gracious God," he ejaculated, "has party 
spirit brought us to this ! Is the Commonwealth 



54 JOHN CHAMBERS 

so feeble as to require this interposition, the 
raising of a poney purse and the enlistment of 
a foreign emissary to accomplish the ends of 
justice ? These gentlemen, moreover, bring with 
them a standing in society and a weight of char- 
acter which are all thrown upon this unfortu- 
nate man, but Gentlemen his confidence, his 
hope is in your inflexible integrity. ' ' 91 It would 
appear from his argument that he considered it 
astonishing that Mr. Wall, an attorney far be- 
low him in reputation if not in ability, should 
hesitate to undertake alone the prosecution of 
the Governor's son against the combined talent 
of four able attorneys, and that he regarded 
any variation from the ratio of four attorneys 
to one as an unfair trial. 

He urged that the jury act only upon absolute 
proof. "If there is a possibility of innocence, if 
there lingers a solitary doubt, you must ac- 
quit. ' ' 92 After commenting upon the witnesses 
and the evidence, and making much of Desha's 
former good reputation, his young wife, and the 
baby unborn at the time of the murder, he closed 
by picturing to the jury their own feelings as 
they lay upon their pillows having given a ver- 
dict of guilty and afterwards found that he was 
innocent. But how different would be their 
feelings if they pronounced him not guilty! 



THE DESHA TRIAL 55 

How it would thrill the crowd with joy — and 
put the prisoner in a position to regain his 
reputation and perhaps find the real offender. 

John Eowan followed Barry. 93 He was an 
older man than his colleague, a man of high 
ability and character and a lawyer whose thirty 
years of practice had been full of forensic tri- 
umphs. He denied the statement that he had 
been employed by the defense. He had volun- 
teered his services without any stipulation as 
to pay. Like his colleague he discussed the pre- 
vious reputation of Desha and urged upon the 
jury that a man of twenty- three after an exem- 
plary life thus far, had his character formed and 
it would be impossible for him to commit such a 
crime. He, too, indulged in a philippic against 
Chambers. "I would ask", he said, "what in 
morals is the difference between murdering a 
man on the public highway for money, and at- 
tacking a man's life in court for the same pur- 
pose? To be sure there is this difference. In 
the one case there is some danger of being ap- 
prehended, and a hazzard of losing your life by 
the hands of the individual assaulted. But here 
there is no such risk. Desha stands mute in 
this curious assembly and has his life assailed 
from patriotism ! ' ' 94 

He emphasized the fact that Desha could have 



56 JOHN CHAMBERS 

had no motive for the murder. He tried to im- 
peach the testimony of Elismon and Milton Ball, 
and suggested explanations for various details 
of the testimony. He closed with a peroration 
that brought before the minds of the jurors the 
family of the accused and the father's grief and 
suffering; and he rang in their ears the heart- 
rending cry of David over his son Absalom. 
Some of the members of the jury had sons who 
some day might be involved — why not do unto 
others as they would that others should do to 
them. His final plea was, that, though they 
might convict, they could never afterwards give 
back a life that they had once taken. 

It was Saturday morning when John Cham- 
bers arose in a crowded court room to make the 
final speech in the trial of Desha. 95 He was not 
a man of eloquence. That wonderful gift of 
speech by which Barry and Eowan had been 
able to sway audiences and carry them along to 
conviction in behalf of as indefensible and il- 
logical positions as had characterized the relief 
movement had not descended upon Chambers. 
But by the weight of his earnestness, by the 
solidity of his argument, and the strength of his 
sincerity he was a powerful speaker. On this 
Saturday morning he faced a situation which 
called forth his greatest powers. He stood be- 



THE DESHA TRIAL 57 

fore an audience that had heard him tongue - 
lashed in the most scathing language. He met 
the searching eyes of the Governor fixed intent- 
ly upon his. Then he turned to the jury which 
for two days had listened to the persuasive elo- 
quence of two of Kentucky's most famous 
orators. 

He began speaking calmly, stating with dig- 
nity the reasons which had finally induced him 
to yield to the appeals of his fellow prosecutor 
and aid in the conduct of a trial from which he 
had been relieved only by legislative act. 
" Whatever may be thought of me in the fu- 
ture", he said, " though I should be consigned 
to the fate of the Jeffries the reflection that I 
was actuated by no other motive .... than to 
see the ends of justice accomplished, will always 
console me." 9G 

Then he turned with some spirit upon Barry. 
"Mr. Barry enquires for the place which I will 
fill in the page of future history; Gentlemen I 
am too humble an individual to hope for my 
name to be handed down to posterity; and were 
I even so vain as to cherish such a hope, I should 
never envy that gentleman the rank which he 
will occupy on that page. I have never been 
clamorous in calling upon my fellow citizens to 
promote me, nor have I been found shifting 



58 JOHN CHAMBERS 

from one to another high office in our state." 97 
He denied that party spirit had actuated him. 
' ' I have a pride ' ', he said, u asa man, and as a 
citizen, and a confidence that the weight of coun- 
sel and his connexions to the contrary notwith- 
standing, the prisoner's case will be fully and 
fairly investigated. ' ' 

"I am asked emphatically by Mr. Bo wan," 
he continued, "for the difference in morals, be- 
tween murdering a man on the highway for his 
money, and attacking the life of an individual 
in Court, when money was to be received; it 
was unkind — it was applicable alike to his 
Honor upon the bench, and you gentlemen in 
your box, to Major Wall, and to myself ; I know 
no other way to repel his ungenerous insinua- 
tion, than to ask him whether even that would 
be worse than to throw his Aegean shield 
around every prisoner, to rescue crime from its 
meritorious punishment? The talents and abil- 
ity of that gentleman are proverbial and par- 
ticularly in cases of this kind are deemed the 
greatest in this or perhaps the United States; 
and shall they who possess such stupendous 
talents, always interpose them, between crimes 
of the most common hue and punishment, and 
then to lay on us the charge of robbery and 
murder?" 98 



THE DESHA TRIAL 59 

He assured the jury that he would not at- 
tempt to enlist their feelings, but would address 
himself to their reason. He appeared from no 
ill will to the prisoner, for he was willing to 
acknowledge all his former amiability of char- 
acter and virtuous course of life; but he main- 
tained that Desha was no more than mortal and 
it was possible for any mortal to fall. 

As he talked the charge made by Barry that 
it was a party trial seemed to recur to his mind 
with stirring effect. "I have been astonished, 
amazed", he said, "that they without any par- 
ticular evidence of the fact should say that this 
is a party trial!! . . . l Gracious God!' said Mr. 
Barry, 'has party spirit brought us to this?' 
Gracious God ! has it come to this, that citizens 
friendly to justice, and who use their efforts to 
accomplish its end, shall for that, be charged 
with having sanguinary and bloody purposes 
against the accused? He would not directly 
charge them with a motive of this kind, but I 
must condemn in turn the reproachful insinua- 
tion.' J 

Then he proceeded to a review of the testi- 
mony and a rebuttal of the argument. Here his 
advantage was eminent for his opponents had 
addressed themselves so largely to the task of 
enlisting sympathy that they had failed to meet 



60 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the evidence in the case with any degree of 
thoroughness. Chambers handled the testimony 
fairly and logically, constantly urging upon the 
jury not to mind any opinion he might express 
but to study the evidence. In conclusion he re- 
marked that he might have compared the situa- 
tion of Baker's relatives and friends, but that 
it was entirely extraneous. He had not sought 
to rouse feelings. He desired them to rely sim- 
ply upon the facts in the case as adduced by 
the various witnesses. 

The jury retired and, not coming to imme- 
diate agreement, the court adjourned until Mon- 
day morning. Shortly after nine o 'clock on the 
thirty-first of January the jury was brought in 
and the foreman announced that they had 
agreed upon the verdict guilty." After a short 
adjournment the counsel for the prisoner moved 
a new trial on the ground that the rules regard- 
ing the privacy of the jury had been laxly ob- 
served. Several parties had been allowed to 
converse with the members of the jury. Some 
of the jurors had left the room at times unat- 
tended, the Sheriff had slept in the room at 
night, and at one time a letter had been thrown 
into the room threatening that the jurors would 
be hung in effigy if a verdict were not given 
against the prisoner. 100 



THE DESHA TRIAL 61 

Such loose observance of jury regulations was 
inexcusable and it is not strange that Judge 
Shannon sustained the motion for a new trial. 
He was severely and very properly censured, 
however, because he took occasion, in granting 
retrial, to comment somewhat extendedly upon 
the evidence, although the only grounds brought 
forward in support of a new trial were miscon- 
duct in connection with the jury. 

In March the process of trial turned back 
once more to its beginnings, but after more than 
one hundred twenty men had been summoned 
and only four jurymen drawn it was continued 
until the next term of court. 101 Again in June 
did the attempt to secure a jury prove ineffec- 
tual and a second continuance resulted. 102 In 
the September term, however, a jury was finally 
obtained and the case was tried. This time 
neither Chambers appeared for the prosecution, 
nor Barry or Eowan for the defense. William 
K. Wall conducted the case for the State un- 
aided, while Taul and Brown, who had served 
in the first trial, assisted now by Bayley and 
Crawford, acted for the defense. 103 At eleven 
thirty in the evening of the last day of the term, 
Desha was once more found guilty. But the 
case that had already dragged through four 
terms of court was not to end so soon. Judge 



62 JOHN CHAMBEES 

Henry 0. Brown, on the ground that the murder 
was not proved to have been committed in 
Fleming County, as was charged in the indict- 
ment, granted a new trial. With a confused 
mixture of hand clapping and hissing the excit- 
ed audience left the court-house. 104 

So the wearying process of searching the 
highways and hedges for jurors who had not 
formed an opinion on this notorious case, and 
the coralling of witnesses for term after term 
only to be dismissed upon the postponement of 
the trial, continued. On June 9, 1826, Elismon 
Ball, one of the principal witnesses, was 
drowned and the newspapers began to wrangle 
over the question as to whether or not he had 
suicided. 105 A month later, Isaac Desha, in an 
attempt at suicide in the jail, cut his windpipe 
nearly in two and seriously affected the roots 
of his tongue. 106 This added another stay to 
the proceedings. In September, Judge Brown 
granted a petition to set Desha free on bail, al- 
though the act allowing a change of venue spe- 
cifically provided that he should not be dis- 
charged from custody because of any number 
of continuances. 107 So the year 1826 and the 
first half of 1827 went by. 

At the June term of 1827 the usual failure to 
find a jury occurred and on the last day of the 



THE DESHA TRIAL 63 

term the Judge made his now time-honored an- 
nouncement of a continuance. A motion to re- 
admit Desha to bail was overruled and the 
Judge was about to give directions for making 
the jail as comfortable as possible when Gov- 
ernor Desha rose. Remarking that the time had 
now come for him to act, he drew from his 
pocket a document which when read by the 
clerk proved to be an official pardon for his 
son. 108 

Thus ended the long and expensive attempt 
to bring the prisoner to justice. Nearly three 
years had elapsed since the murder, and thou- 
sands of dollars had been spent with absolutely 
no results. Yet the outcome seemed to be a 
relief to all parties. "The long agony is over," 
said an anti-Desha newspaper as it congratu- 
lated the people of Harrison County upon the 
restoration of the benefits of a court of jus- 
tice. 109 

Grewsome are the tales in the newspapers of 
the day of the discharged prisoner as he depart- 
ed from the haunts of his youth with a silver 
tube in his windpipe, breathing through a 
branch that protruded from his neck. 110 And 
there drifted back from far away Texas a rumor 
of his arrest for a robbery and murder commit- 
ted there. 111 But for the people of Kentucky 



64 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the matter was at an end and they were well 
content to let a father's pardon draw the cur- 
tain forever on the wearying conrt proceedings 
and the unsettled question of his innocence or 
guilt. 



VII 

Legislative Affairs 

The intense feeling aroused by the struggle 
between the Old and New Court parties by no 
means died away with the overthrow of the New 
Court and the dissolution of the faction that had 
supported it. The spirit of partizanship still 
was bitter, and now that the State issues were 
in a measure settled the intensity found ex- 
pression in the espousal of national issues. The 
Presidential election of 1824, with its quadran- 
gular personal contest and resulting ill feeling, 
insured a bitter struggle in 1828, and in the 
year 1827 lines were drawing on John Quincy 
Adams and Andrew Jackson with a distinctness 
that left no doubt as to the return of party divi- 
sions throughout the country. 

In the town of Washington, Kentucky, in 
1827 the Fourth of July was celebrated by a 
gathering of men of both parties at the tavern 
of Mrs. Stith. The old time custom of toasting 
prominent men was followed, and many were 
the eulogies and invectives rained upon the 

5 65 



66 JOHN CHAMBERS 

heads of Clay and Jackson and Adams on this 
day of patriotism. H. C. Edwards had just 
given the toast: "Gen. Andrew Jackson: May 
he succeed in his undertaking, and at last arrive 
at the head of the American government. ' ' And 
John Chambers, mindful of one of the many 
acts for which Jackson bore the contumely of 
his opponents, responded "The six West Ten- 
nessee militiamen — murdered at Mobile in the 
year 1815, on a charge of mutiny and desertion. 
May their execution be the last triumph of mili- 
tary despotism over the lives of American citi- 
zens. " 112 

It was an epitome of the coming campaign. 
Each State fought with criminations and re- 
criminations. In the State of Kentucky the 
feeling was highly intensified by local condi- 
tions. The men who, like Chambers, had fol- 
lowed the fortunes of the Anti-Belief and Old 
Court Party turned their support to the Na- 
tional Eepublicans and John Quincy Adams; 
while Barry and Blair and Amos Kendall and 
the other New Court men waged as valiant a 
combat for Old Hickory. 

In the latter part of the year 1827 the candi- 
dacy of William T. Barry for the Governorship 
of the State was announced in the Democratic 
papers. Shortly afterwards a convention of 



LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS 67 

National Republicans (in which John Chambers 
and four others represented Mason County) 
met at Frankfort and nominated as their can- 
didate Thomas Metcalfe. 113 He was a man of 
humble birth, and from the fact that his early 
occupation was that of a stone mason he was 
given the sobriquet of "Old Stone Hammer". 
During the recent troubles in Kentucky, Met- 
calfe had been a strong Old Court man. He had 
for ten years served as a Representative in 
Congress for that district which included Mason 
County, and his new candidacy opened the field 
for Congressional aspirants. 

The Maysville Eagle for March 5, 1828, con- 
tained an address to Chambers signed "Many 
Voters", asking if he would consent to run for 
the office. He replied in the next issue that he 
understood that the successor of Metcalfe was 
to be nominated by district convention. He 
urged them to leave the matter to the decision 
of that body and by all means to avoid disun- 
ion in the party. In the same issue, and imme- 
diately following the reply of Chambers, was a 
call made upon Adam Beatty, which well exem- 
plified the need of the advice of Chambers to 
unite on one man. Beatty answered by a similar 
request that they leave it to the decision of the 
district convention. The convention met on May 



G8 JOHN CHAMBERS 

2 at the Lower Blue Licks in Nicholas County, 
and John Chambers received the nomination 
for the vacant seat in Congress. Nicholas Cole- 
man was selected as the Jacksonian candidate, 
and by early summer the campaign was in full 
progress. 114 

There was animation in every phase of the 
struggle in Kentucky. The State election oc- 
curred in August, and Metcalfe was successful 
over Barry by a very small majority. 115 Cham- 
bers was elected as his successor in Congress 
with a good margin. 116 The success of Met- 
calfe must be regarded as a final victory of the 
Old Court Party rather than an index of party 
sentiment in the State, for in the November 
election Jackson was given a majority of about 
eight thousand votes over Adams. 117 

It was on December 1, 1828, that John Cham- 
bers took his seat in the House of Bepresenta- 
tives at Washington, D. C, for the short ses- 
sion of the Twentieth Congress. In the three 
ensuing months he enjoyed his first experience 
in national politics. The Congressional De- 
bates for this session contain no speech by him 
and it is probable that his prominence in the 
House was not great. It was the last session 
in the Presidential term of John Quincy Adams 
and was subject to all the peculiarities that pre- 



LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS G9 

vail when the incumbents of office look forward 
not only to a change in administration but to a 
change in the party in power. 

A letter written toward the close of the ses- 
sion by Chambers to his friend John J. Crit- 
tenden contains some interesting comments 
upon the politics of the day. Crittenden had 
been nominated by President Adams during the 
last two months of his term for the position of 
Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 118 
and a Democratic Senate resolved not to act 
upon the nomination until the session was over 
and the new administration was in power. The 
status of the nomination is the occasion of the 
letter from Chambers. After he expresses 
doubts as to the confirmation of Crittenden's 
appointment he remarks: "We are all doing 
worse than nothing here, and I am tired to 
death of it. We have a rumor that General 
Jackson is dead, but it is not credited, and I 
hope it is not true; I would rather trust him 
than Calhoun! Mr. Clay is quite unwell. 'The 
Old QuilP, however, is in perfect health, and 
keeps the machinery in motion, says, 'How do, 
sir?' to everybody that calls on him and gives 
his friends a very cordial pump-handle shake 
of the hand." 119 

Meanwhile Mrs. Chambers remained at home 



70 JOHN CHAMBERS 

taking care of Cedar Hill and the children. 
On December 15th, in answer to a letter that 
must have been written soon after her hus- 
band's arrival in Washington, she wrote : 

I am afraid my Dear Husband from your descrip- 
tion of the kind of life you live that you might almost 
be called a solitaire. I should be much more pleased 
to hear you were mixing with the gay multitude and 
enjoying all the amusements the city affords, more 
particularly while we are going on so comfortably at 
home, attend all the public places of amusement and 
tell us all about the most admired Belles and Beaux, 
and all the fashionable follies as they rise to your 
view. I have such unbounded confidence in my beloved 
husband that I am not afraid of his engaging in any 
that can militate against his health or my happiness 
in any sense of the word. 120 

Her injunctions must have been diligently 
obeyed for on February 3, 1830, she writes in 
the following strain : 

Your last letter was a very pleasant one my be- 
loved Husband. At the same time it set me to won- 
dering what time you could possibly have for attend- 
ing to the affairs of the nation from your description 
of the round of visiting you are engaged in. you must 
necessarily be up the greater part of the night, and 
consequently feel very unlike Business the next day. 
You must tell me how you manage these things. I 
frequently, when thinking of you fear that you will 
become so fond of amusement that vou will not be 



LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS 71 

happy at home and that idea is very painful, at the 
same time I am delighted that your occupations are 
so diversified, as to make time swift. 121 

In December she wrote of the fear of an in- 
surrection of blacks in the neighborhood and 
mentioned a number of experiences of an in- 
cendiary nature in which negro servants were 
suspected. 122 But the winter passed safely ; and 
soon after the inauguration of Andrew Jackson, 
Chambers returned to the family at Cedar Hill, 
and declining reelection to Congress took up 
once more the life of a Kentucky lawyer. 123 

It was not long, however, before he found 
himself again called to the performance of leg- 
islative duties. In the summer of 1830 he was 
chosen as a Representative in the Kentucky 
legislature. The chief reason given in the call 
which appeared in The Maysville Eagle for the 
candidacy of Chambers was the need of some 
able man to push forward in the State legisla- 
ture the interests of the Maysville Pike. 124 A 
bill for the Federal aid of this road had passed 
Congress during the early months of 1830 and 
had been defeated by the veto of President 
Jackson. 1 25 

In this session of 1830-1831 Chambers occu- 
pied a place, as in both former sessions, on the 
Committee on Courts of Justice. He was also 



72 JOHN CHAMBERS 

a member of the Committees on Internal Im- 
provements and on Ways and Means. 126 

The macadamizing and improvement of the 
Maysville Pike through Washington, Paris, and 
Lexington was an undertaking which meant 
much to the people of Kentucky. Since Jack- 
son with his antipathy for internal improve- 
ments had come into possession of the executive 
veto, the only remaining hope was in State aid. 
Early in the session Chambers introduced in 
the House a resolution instructing the Commit- 
tee on Internal Improvements to inquire into 
the expediency of appropriating the funds in- 
vested in the stock of the Bank of Kentucky 
and a portion of the stock of the Bank of the 
Commonwealth for the construction of works of 
internal improvement, and the authorizing of a 
loan of money in anticipation of these funds to 
aid in the work. The resolution was adopted 127 
and in pursuance thereof J. T. Morehead, 
Chairman of the Committee on Internal Im- 
provements, made an extended report on Janu- 
ary 3, 1831. 128 He urged the establishment of a 
system of internal improvements comparable 
to that of Ohio, and recommended the negotia- 
tion of a loan based on the stock of the two 
banks for the purpose of aiding the Maysville 
Turnpike and other roads in the State. 



LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS 73 

About this time it was decided to begin opera- 
tions in the Senate and a bill was introduced 
in that body by Robert Taylor of Mason Coun- 
ty. 129 It authorized the Governor to subscribe 
for five hundred shares, in behalf of the Com- 
monwealth, in the stock of the Maysville, Wash- 
ington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road 
Company and appropriated at once a sufficient 
sum to pay the subscribed amount. The bill 
received a favorable vote in the Senate; on 
January 14, 1831, " after a violent contest" 13 ° 
it passed the House; and on the day following 
was approved by the Governor. 131 

Another bill which agitated this session of 
the legislature was one to prevent more effec- 
tually the importation of slaves. It evidenced 
the desire on the part of many in Kentucky to 
accomplish the gradual extinction or at least 
the prevention of further increase of slavery in 
the State — a movement which had many years 
before enlisted the support of Henry Clay and 
others. A law had been approved on February 
8, 1815, prohibiting under penalty of a heavy 
fine the importation of slaves except by so- 
journers and immigrants who took oath that 
they were bringing them for use and not for 
sale. 132 The law had not been enforced, how- 
ever, because no one cared to inform upon the 



74 JOHN CHAMBERS 

offenders. 133 It was now proposed to enact a 
law in which the penalties and mode of enforce- 
ment would be such as to render it of practical 
effect. The bill, however, failed to receive the 
requisite majority. Chambers opposed the 
measure and upon its final consideration voted 
against it. 134 

The session closed at the end of six weeks. 
The Commentator of Frankfort complained 
that although no session in many years had been 
so short, the business accomplished could have 
been done in one week instead of six. No bill 
to increase the revenue had been passed ; there 
had been no election of United States Senator 
although sixteen ballots had been taken; and 
the total of legislation was made up largely of 
private acts. 135 

John Chambers was reelected to his position 
in the House of 1831, 136 and at the ensuing ses- 
sion was made chairman of the Committee on 
Internal Improvements. He was very active in 
favoring the State aid of works of internal im- 
provement. He supported a bill authorizing an 
additional subscription of five hundred shares 
for the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lex- 
ington Turnpike Eoad Company but it failed 
of passage. 137 The election of United States 
Senator again came up and Chambers cast his 



LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS 75 

ballot in favor of Henry Clay who was success- 
ful against Ei chard M. Johnson. 138 

The failure in the preceding session of the 
attempt to prevent the importation of slaves 
did not entirely discourage its adherents and 
much time was spent in the session of 1831 in 
discussing the best mode of accomplishing the 
purpose. It seems to have been rather gener- 
ally agreed that the increase of slaves was an 
evil, but there was considerable disagreement 
as to the proper method of checking such in- 
crease. 139 The bill now before the legislature 
prohibited the importation of slaves for mer- 
chandise and declared all slaves brought ille- 
gally into the State free after June 1, 1832. It 
also provided that slaves freed as a consequence 
of the act must leave the Commonwealth within 
six months. 140 Objections were made to the law 
because it provided for the emancipation of the 
slaves without compensating the owner and be- 
cause it turned loose upon neighboring States 
the free negroes who were so cordially hated in 
all slave-holding regions. 141 The record of votes 
in the House Journal shows Chambers to have 
been a constant opponent of the measure. 142 
It passed the House by a vote of 49 to 48, 143 
but failed to become a law. A year later, how- 
ever, a bill was passed embodying the policy 



76 JOHN CHAMBERS 

of the law of 1815 — the imposition of a heavy 
fine upon importers — but rendering it effec- 
tive by making the prosecuting attorneys re- 
sponsible for the enforcement of the law and 
turning over to them a fee of twenty per cent 
of all amounts collected. 144 

The session ended on December 23rd, in time 
for the members to reach home for Christmas. 
Chambers refused to be a candidate for re- 
election and also declined, during the year 1832, 
an offer of a position on the Court of Appeals 
of Kentucky. 145 

In this same year, 1832, on the eleventh day 
of November, Mrs. Hannah Taylor Chambers 
died after a sickness of two weeks. 140 Less 
than a fortnight had passed since the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of their wedding; and the 
quarter of a century of their married life had 
been full of happiness. Chambers lived the 
remaining score of years bravely and busily, 
but the sense of his loss made time drag heav- 
ily. He was a man of rather stern and dignified 
mien, but with a heart full of warmth and af- 
fection; and in his motherless children he now 
found a great source of comfort in his sorrows. 
There were eleven of them now — only three 
of whom had reached maturity — and with 
them he spent the next few years of his life 



LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS 77 

while lie busied himself in the practice of law. 147 
Particularly was he fond of little Lucretia, the 
baby of the family, whom he affectionately 
called Cushion or Cush. 148 

During the two years following his wife's 
death the oldest unmarried daughter, Matilda, 
seems to have taken her mother's place in the 
home. In February of 1835, however, she was 
married to Charles Scott Brent and removed 
to Paris in Bourbon County. 149 Her father, 
writing to her a few days after her departure, 
said : "I will not undertake to describe to you 
the state of mind under which I suffered the 
day you left me. I little thought I could have 
felt such a privation so severely, for I had con- 
cluded that my feelings had been so often and 
intensely tried on the rock of misery that they 
had become indurated. I was mistaken however 
and even now after almost a week has elapsed 
I would rather think of anything else than of 
the separation from the beloved child whose 
attention to me and her brothers and sisters 
has for upwards of two years supplyed to us 
as far [as] possible a loss of which I never 
think but with uncontroulable anguish". 

In the same letter he said of Lucretia: "the 
poor little thing cried bitterly on thursday night 
about midnight and when I inquired what was 



78 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the matter she answered — ' I want to see sister 
Tilley' and on being told that you would soon 
come home she fell asleep again immediately 
and left me to finish the scene by doing as she 
had done." 150 Soon after the departure of 
Matilda her older sister Hannah with her hus- 
band Dr. John W. Henry came to Cedar Hill 
to make their home and care for the younger 
children. 



VIII 
Congressman from Kentucky 

It was only poor health that prevented John 
Chambers from rounding out his professional 
career by a term on the bench of the Court of 
Appeals of Kentucky. The position which he 
had declined in 1832 came to him once more in 
February of 1835 when Governor Morehead 
nominated him for a position on the bench of 
Kentucky's highest court. The nomination was 
unanimously confirmed by the Senate; but his 
physical condition at this time was such as to 
forbid the undertaking of so sedentary an occu- 
pation, and in March he resigned the office with- 
out having taken his seat. 151 

It seems that the restoration of his health 
demanded the exercise and excitement of a can- 
vass for a seat in Congress ; and so in the month 
following his resignation from the Court of Ap- 
peals he entered the field as a candidate for the 
honor of representing his district at the Nation- 
al capital. 152 In the early part of the campaign 
various candidates for Whig support offered 

79 



80 JOHN CHAMBERS 

themselves or were brought forward by their 
friends. Among these were George W. Wil- 
liams and John Eootes Thornton of Bourbon 
County, and Adam Beatty of Mason County. 153 
One by one, however, all these candidates with- 
drew until Williams and Chambers alone were 
before the people. After some newspaper criti- 
cism of his rather lukewarm advocacy of the 
United States Bank, Williams finally withdrew 
upon the appearance of a Democratic candidate 
in the person of William Tanner, editor of the 
Maysville Monitor. 1 ^ 

In August, 1835, the election occurred and 
Chambers was chosen, polling over twice as 
many votes as the opposing candidate. 155 The 
fall months of 1835 were rife with political 
meetings. William Henry Harrison was in the 
field as the Whig candidate for the Presidency 
and everywhere were celebrations of the battle 
of Tippecanoe and the battle of the Thames. 
The little tin god of war strode triumphant in 
Whig politics and the man with battle-scars or 
a faded uniform found them of political advan- 
tage. The part played by Chambers in the bat- 
tle of the Thames made him an interesting 
speaker at campaign meetings and the candi- 
dacy of his former chief received his warm and 
active support. 156 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 81 

In the National House of Eepresentatives the 
career of John Chambers is not a striking one. 
He served during four regular and one extra 
sessions, in each of which the Whigs were in a 
minority. He took his part in the routine of the 
opposition, persistently combated the financial 
measures of Jackson and his coadjutors, upheld 
with vigor and ability the interests of the State 
he represented, and occasionally assisted in the 
wearying tactics of the minority filibuster. 

The year 1835 had witnessed a complete sus- 
pension of diplomatic relations between the 
United States and France, arising from the fail- 
ure of the French government to pay the annual 
installments due to this country by agreement in 
the treaty of 1831. An outspoken message by 
President Jackson to Congress on the subject 
of the negligence of the French Chambers pro- 
voked intense feeling in France which found an 
echo on this side of the water. 157 In the first 
session of the Twenty-fourth Congress a reso- 
lution was introduced into the House instruct- 
ing the Naval Committee to inquire into the 
expediency of increasing the navy. 158 This 
brought on a debate of some animation in which 
the prospects of war were commented on and 
the resolution was charged with being the com- 
mencement of a series of war measures. 



82 JOHN CHAMBERS 

John Chambers was one of a minority of 
eighteen who voted against the resolution. He 
was criticised for his vote by some of the news- 
papers of his constituency ; but defended his ac- 
tion upon the ground that the President had 
made no further communication as to the status 
of affairs with France and there was no cer- 
tainty that the present relations warranted such 
a resolution. War measures should be taken, 
not upon the initiative of the Naval Committee, 
but upon information from the Executive who 
was responsible for the foreign negotiations and 
from the Secretary of the Navy as to the needs 
of that Department. He had no doubt, he said, 
of the necessity of increasing the naval re- 
sources of the country, but he wished to act 
understandingly. 159 

Less than a week after the resolution passed 
the House the President sent to Congress a spe- 
cial message, laying before them the recent com- 
munications between the two countries and urg- 
ing an increase of the navy. 160 At this point, 
however, Great Britain offered to mediate and 
matters were amicably settled. 

In his opposition to what was termed the New 
York Eelief Bill favorable comment was re- 
ceived by John Chambers from the home 
papers. In consequence of the sufferings due 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 83 

to the recent disastrous fire in New York 
City a bill was brought in for the relief of 
that stricken population. It was opposed by 
Chambers on the ground that it did not dis- 
tinguish properly between the real sufferers 
and those who were attempting to profit by 
the woes of others. 161 An insinuation of C. 
C. Cambreleng, the Representative from New 
York City, to the effect that the West owed sup- 
port to the measure because of services previ- 
ously rendered to that section met with an in- 
dignant protest from Chambers. No State, he 
said, had any claim on the gratitude of Ken- 
tucky. She did not envy to her sister States any 
aid from the Federal government ; she only de- 
manded a just and equal share of the surplus 
revenues which she had not received. "Hereto- 
fore", he continued, "Kentucky had nothing 
national but the blood of her gallant sons. 
When that was required for the great purpose 
of patriotic defense, it was poured out freely, 
aye, lavishly upon the field of battle. Her roads 
and rivers were never national and for all prac- 
tical purpioses, as far as the favors of govern- 
ment were concerned, she might as well be ex- 
cluded from the confederacy." 162 

The account of two of his speeches upon this 
subject appears in The Maysville Eagle, telling 



84 JOHN CHAMBERS 

of the warm commendation they evoked from 
Eepresentatives Wise, Peyton, and others of the 
opposition. 163 Chambers himself in a letter to 
his niece, Lucretia Stull, laughed at her com- 
pliments and remarked: "The puffings about 
my speech which you have read in the Eagle, 
were the idle compliments of some letter writers 
here under the influence of some very partial 
friends on the floor of Congress among whom 
are the Virginia & Tennessee 'game chickens', 
Wise and Peyton who have taken it into their 
heads to be extravagantly fond of 'the old Ken- 
tuckian' ". 104 

"I do want to get home very very much", he 
wrote to Cedar Hill ; and the thought of the good 
things of his own farm brought out the injunc- 
tion, "leave some good Bacon for me when I 
get home for I am heartily tired of fish & oyster 
and ducks & pudding & pastry but above all I 
long for a little milk". 165 He was always a 
home-loving individual, and the mental picture 
of Cedar Hill and the children awaiting the re- 
turn of their only parent must have been very 
strong and constant with him. Nevertheless, 
when the Congressional elections recurred 
Chambers appeared in the field and was re- 
elected by a large majority. 166 

Shortly after *the August election of 1837 he 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 85 

returned to Washington, D. C, for the extra 
session called by President Van Buren to take 
measures for the betterment of the financial 
condition. The session convened in September 
and lasted somewhat more than a month. 
Chambers was a part of a vigorous Whig minor- 
ity which fought in vain against the acts with- 
holding the fourth installment of the public 
deposits and providing for an issue of Treasury 
notes, but which succeeded in tabling in the 
House and defeating the Sub-Treasury Bill. 167 
The bank question in particular aroused 
Chambers's interest. In a speech before his 
constituents he handled with uncompromising 
severity the policy of the administration in se- 
lecting certain banks for the location of depos- 
its, stimulating them to large accommodations 
and excessive issues and subsequently attempt- 
ing to crush them by forcing the payment of 
deposits in gold or silver. 168 On the floor of the 
House he remarked, apropos of the recall of 
money from the deposit banks, that the govern- 
ment stood in the same relation to the banks as 
the Devil did to the human race : he first tempt- 
ed them to disobedience, and then ruined them. 
So the government had encouraged the banks 
to increase their circulation, and was now seek- 
ing their ruin. 169 



86 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Soon after the adjournment of the extra ses- 
sion a dinner was given at Wheeling, Virginia, 
to Senators Clay and Crittenden, at which a 
considerable number of Eepresentatives from 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio were present as 
invited guests. Clay and Crittenden responded 
to addresses, and Chambers, on behalf of the 
delegations from the three States, made what 
was termed "a forcible and eloquent speech". 170 

Back of the shifting issues over which men 
contended in the decades that preceded the War 
for the Union lay always the dread subject of 
slavery. For the most part men avoided it as 
a dangerous topic of discussion, but with each 
passing year it obtruded itself more and more 
frequently into the columns of the press, the 
public platform, and the halls of Congress. In 
the thirties the question of annexing Texas, of 
prohibiting slavery in Arkansas and the District 
of Columbia, and of the reception of anti- 
slavery petitions in Congress gave ample oc- 
casion for the most stirring agitation of the 
mooted problem. 

Chambers was himself a slave owner; he 
represented a slave-holding State, and it is only 
natural that his alignment should be with the 
South. Yet it was with the conservative rather 
than the ultra Southern faction that he cast his 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 87 

lot. Some years before he had remarked to 
Crittenden that he would rather trust Jackson 
than Calhoun. 171 He had no sympathy with nul- 
lification and believed with Clay in the policy of 
conciliation for the sake of preserving the 
Union. 

In respect to the annexation of Texas his 
attitude was explicitly stated in a speech to his 
constituents late in the fall of 1837. He alluded 
to the subject as one "rife with materials the 
most exciting and inflam[m]atory." He be- 
lieved that Texas would never be annexed with- 
out a severance of the Union. "The wild and 
mania-stricken abolitionists of the North", he 
said, "were playing into the hands of ambitious 
and designing disorganizers of the South". In 
his pessimism he was constrained to believe 
"That the admission of Texas was to be urged 
by certain politicians of the South with reckless 
and persevering obstinacy, and would be made 
a pretext by which to dissolve the Union and 
rear up a great Southern confederacy." He 
called upon the patriotic and conservative spir- 
its of Kentucky to avert such a calamity, "to 
interpose and present a nucleus around which 
the sound and uncontaminated portions of the 
Union might rally. Kentucky had twice stilled 
the gathering tempest of civil strife. It was a 



88 JOHN CHAMBERS 

son of Kentucky who stepped forth as the great 
Mediator of the Missouri question. And it was 
the same son of Kentucky, who in the evil hour 
of Nullification and Southern revolt, had quelled 
the embryo elements of intestine war." 172 

Chambers could not know that the same man 
who had fathered these two compromises would 
more than a dozen years later bring forth a final 
desperate attempt to pacify the sectional strife 
and still less could he realize of how little per 
manent effect Clay's last act would be in avert- 
ing the clash of arms. 

The question of the reception and disposition 
of slavery petitions was one that harassed Con- 
gress for many years. Petitions for the aboli- 
tion of slavery in the District of Columbia be- 
came so frequent in the first session of the 
Twenty-fourth Congress that the House finally 
passed the Pinckney Eesolutions in May, 1836, 
providing that all petitions, memorials, etc., re- 
lating to slavery should without being printed 
or referred, be laid on the table, and no further 
action be taken on them. 173 Against this and 
subsequent gag resolutions, which with justice 
he claimed were in violation of the constitu- 
tional guarantee of the right of petition, John 
Quincy Adams waged constant and inveterate 
war with a vigor that made the last days of the 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 89 

"Old Man Eloquent' ' the most brilliant of his 
remarkable life. 174 

In each of the four regular sessions during 
which Chambers was a member of Congress 
resolutions of this nature passed the House, 
and in each case, though present when the reso- 
lutions came up for final consideration, he re- 
fused to vote. 175 Chambers was not a man of 
vague principles, nor was he one who hesitated 
to express them. His entire Congressional 
record shows clearly that he was opposed to the 
slavery petitions and opposed to the meddling 
by Congress with the institution of slavery in 
the District of Columbia. It is probable 1 ,' if one 
may judge from his vote on preliminary and 
similar questions and from a few incidental re- 
marks that find their way into the Journal and 
Globe, that he belonged to a small class- who 1 
believed with Wise of Virginia that the peti- 
tions should not even be received and who re- 
fused to vote for resolutions which by providing 
for their disposition implied the right to re- 
ceive them. 176 

It is interesting to note in this connection' 
that between the second and third sessions of 
the Twenty-fifth Congress Chambers was en- 
gaged in a professional capacity to defend an 
abolitionist charged with 'aiding in the escape 



90 JOHN CHAMBERS 

from Kentucky of a number of slaves. In the 
fall of 1838, Mason County was deeply stirred 
over the trial of John B. Mahan, indicted for 
the abduction of slaves belonging to William 
Greathouse. Mahan was a tall, raw boned farm- 
er and Methodist minister of Ohio — a stalwart 
abolitionist and a diligent agent for the under- 
ground railroad. 177 In the year 1838, fifteen 
slaves, including two belonging to William 
Greathouse of Kentucky, passed through his 
hands on their way north to freedom. Soon 
afterwards he was apprehended in Ohio, taken 
to Kentucky upon a requisition of the Governor 
of that State on Governor Vance of Ohio, and 
lodged in the Mason County jail. 178 

For several months he lay in prison while 
excitement rose to a high pitch on both sides of 
the river. In Ohio the granting of the requisi- 
tion by Vance was made an issue in the fall cam- 
paign by the abolitionists, with the result that 
Governor Vance was defeated for reelection. 179 
On the south side of the river the fear of losing 
slaves by kidnapping aroused consternation and 
the desire to administer swift judgment upon 
Mahan. 

The case came to trial on Tuesday, November 
13, and lasted six days. The prosecution was 
conducted by four prominent attorneys of the 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 91 

county. The defense of Mahan was undertaken 
by a Cincinnati attorney named Vaughan and 
by John Chambers and his son, Francis Taylor 
Chambers. 180 During the taking of testimony a 
witness swore that Mahan had told him that, 
for the purpose of forwarding runaway slaves, 
there was a chain reaching from Kentucky to 
Canada, and that the slaves of Greathouse had 
been among those recently assisted by him. 181 
The defense moved that the Judge exclude the 
testimony from the consideration of the jury as 
wholly insufficient and incompetent to prove the 
offense charged in the indictment, or that the 
Judge instruct the jury that, in the absence of 
proof that the offense was committed by the 
prisoner in Mason County, he was not legally 
subject to conviction. It seemed clearly evident 
that Mahan had not for many years been in 
Kentucky ; and, in his charge to the jury, Judge 
Walker Eeid instructed them to find for the 
prisoner if it appeared from the evidence that 
the crime was not committed in Mason County. 
After a few minutes retirement the jury brought 
in a verdict of not guilty. 1 * 2 

It should not of course be gathered from the 
espousal by Chambers of the cause of Mahan 
that he had any sympathy for abolitionism. He 
did not. He was both a believer and a parti ci- 



92 JOHN CHAMBERS 

pant in the institution of slavery. In the fall 
of 1840 at a meeting of the citizens of Mason 
County, resolutions offered by Chambers were 
passed, urging the importance of forming an 
association of the slave owners in Mason and 
the adjoining counties for the better security of 
their slave property. 183 

The work of John Chambers in Congress was 
probably of more consequence in the perform- 
ance of committee duty than in the exercise of 
the powers of debate upon the floor. In each of 
the live sessions which he spent in Congress, he 
was a member of the Committee of Claims, and 
at the opening of the session of 1838-1839 he 
succeeded the veteran Elisha Whittlesey of 
Ohio as chairman. 184 Indefatigable persistence 
was a marked characteristic of Chambers, and 
he performed with untiring devotion the rou- 
tine duties of this office. 

The Baltimore Patriot said of him: "It is 
but just to Mr. Chambers .... to say, that at 
no previous short session has there been a 
greater amount of business done in this com- 
mittee nor a greater number of bills for the 
benefit of claimants on the justice of the gov- 
ernment acted upon than at the present. ,, 185 

In another paper we find from the pen of a 
correspondent the following tribute: "The 



CONGRESSMAN FROM KENTUCKY 93 

writer of this has often noted him at the mid- 
night hour, when others were asleep or seeking 
amusement, patiently toiling over a mass of 
papers, carefully separating the fair from the 
fraudulent claim — anxiously endeavoring to 
protect the Treasury from illegal and exorbi- 
tant demands, and at the same time to do 
prompt and full justice to poor and meritorious 
petitioners.' Ml186 



IX 

The Log Cabin Campaign 

When the fourth day of March, 1839, brought 
to a termination the final session of the Twenty- 
fifth Congress, John Chambers looked back 
over the busy decade given up so largely to 
legislative affairs and with a feeling of relief 
contemplated retirement from active politics. 
In January he had declined reelection, and now 
he proposed to remain with his family in Ken- 
tucky and resume the practice of law. 187 

For an avocation it appears that he turned 
to the peaceful pastime of silk culture. A wide- 
spread interest seems to have been prevalent in 
Kentucky at this time in the development of the 
silk industry. In July a meeting at Washing- 
ton appointed Chambers and Henry Eeeder as 
delegates to the State Silk Convention at Lex- 
ington ; and in September a Mason County Silk 
Society was organized with John Chambers as 
president. 188 But the industry did not take very 
deep root in the Commonwealth. Perhaps the 
State which had been founded by men in linsey- 

94 



THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN 95 

woolsey and buckskin still cared little for an 
occupation that savored so much of aristocracy 
as did the manufacture of silk. It may be that 
those who, like Chambers, threw themselves 
with such vigor into the log cabin and hard cider 
campaign of 1840, found the culture of silk in- 
consistent with their outcry against the finery 
of Martin Van Buren. At all events the indus- 
try did not become a formidable rival of to- 
bacco and hemp. 

While Chambers was attending silk conven- 
tions his companions who were still in the field 
of politics were looking about for a candidate 
for Governor ; and among the names mentioned 
in the forecasts of the Harrodsburg Conven- 
tion was that of John Chambers. A writer in 
The Maysville Eagle, commenting on the quali- 
fications of Chambers, emphasized his active 
support of the constitution and laws during the 
stirring times of the relief legislation and the 
struggle over the Court of Appeals. 189 A con- 
tributor to another paper laid stress on the 
varied experience of the Old Kentuckian and 
his faithful and efficient work as chairman of 
the Committee of Claims, adding that he "had 
proof, in his attention to the sick, and generous 
sympathy for the afflicted; that Major Cham- 
bers possesses in an unusual degree, those kind, 



96 JOHN CHAMBERS 

warm and benevolent affections which ennoble 
human nature, and without which no one is to 
be trusted." 190 No evidence is forthcoming, 
however, to the effect that Chambers had lost 
his desire for retirement from the political 
arena, and at the Harrodsburg Convention on 
August 26, 1839, his name was not brought for- 
ward. 191 Eobert P. Letcher was nominated and 
elected; while Garrett Davis was chosen to fill 
the seat made vacant by the withdrawal of 
Chambers. 192 

Nevertheless the way out of politics is often 
more difficult to find than the way in, and so it 
was many years before there came to John 
Chambers actual surcease from political labors. 
At this particular time the tie that held him to 
the paths of politics was that well knit bond of 
affection for his veteran chieftain of the battle 
of the Thames. As the unfortunate adminis- 
tration of Martin Van Buren drew to a close 
it became increasingly evident that only through 
a combination of the various factions of the Op- 
position could the defeat of the Administration 
be accomplished in the national election of 1840. 
Among those who were opposed to the re- 
election of the Wizard of Kinderhook were the 
Whigs, with their diverse personal predilec- 
tions for Harrison, Clay, or Webster; the Anti- 



THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN 97 

Masons, the Abolitionists, and the Democrats 
who had followed the lead of Old Hickory but 
found only disappointment in his chosen suc- 
cessor. The question now was : who could win 
the united support of these heterogeneous ele- 
ments I 

The process of elimination first of all dropped 
Webster which left the choice to the two men of 
the West — Henry Clay and William Henry 
Harrison. But Clay being a Mason could not 
command the Anti-Masonic vote; and, in a re- 
cent speech he had alienated himself from the 
support of the Abolitionists. 193 Moreover, 
General Harrison had received and accepted 
the nomination of the Anti-Masonic party; 194 
and in December, 1839, the National Conven- 
tion of the Whig party at Harrisburg wisely 
made the veteran soldier of Ohio their standard 
bearer. 195 The Democrats rallied to the support 
of Martin Van Buren and there followed the 
most exciting presidential campaign that the 
country had yet witnessed. 

A careless remark to the effect that General 
Harrison would concern himself no longer with 
presidential aspirations if he were possessed 
of a log cabin and plenty of hard cider, gave to 
the Whigs a rallying cry which swept from end 
to end of the country. 196 Effective popular 

7 



98 JOHN CHAMBERS 

comparisons were drawn between the simple 
and honest democracy of the log cabin and hard 
cider candidate and the gold and silver and 
liveried servants of the aristocratic Van Bu- 
ren. This hypnotic suggestion, together with 
that ever potent worship of a military hero, 
served to bind together in Harrison's support 
a coalition that had neither well-defined party 
principles nor vestige of party platform. 

Especially in the West did the popular fer- 
vor run high. From the Alleghanies to the 
Mississippi reigned a continuous Harrison car- 
nival wherein the people amidst campaign 
songs, bonfires, torchlight processions, and im- 
mense barbecues worked themselves into a 
frenzy of enthusiasm which the sneers of the 
Democrats served but to inflame. 

John Chambers, though a stanch political 
and personal friend of Henry Clay, 197 was heart 
and soul in sympathy with the candidacy of Old 
Tippecanoe. The circulation of reports deroga- 
tory to the character and military abilities of 
General Harrison brought Charles S. Todd and 
John Chambers and others who had fought with 
him in the War of 1812 into the field in an imme- 
diate and vigorous crusade in his defense. 198 

Turning from his coveted retirement Cham- 
bers plunged without hesitation into a lengthy 



THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN 99 

and exciting political campaign. He was well 
fitted for effective campaigning. From his 
forty years of experience he was widely and 
favorably known. He was a convincing speaker, 
and his personal friendship for and military 
connection with General Harrison gave an 
added eloquence to his words. Many were the 
speeches he delivered during the winter fol- 
lowing Harrison's nomination. In March he 
presided over a meeting at the court-house in 
Washington, which organized a Mason Central 
Tippecanoe Club. 199 A week later a constitu- 
tion was adopted and provisions made for 
weekly meetings until the thirteenth of the next 
month and for monthly meetings thereafter. 200 
The thirteenth of April was the date set for a 
grand Whig celebration at Washington. To- 
ward the last of March delegates from the vari- 
ous Tippecanoe clubs of Mason County met at 
Washington with John Chambers in the chair. 
Detailed arrangements were made for bands, 
processions, speakers and all the paraphernalia 
requisite for a successful Whig meeting. 201 

The appointed day fell on a Monday. Day- 
break found people already on their way. The 
whole Whig portion of the county turned out, 
and strangers came by boat to Maysville from 
Louisville, Cincinnati, Covington, Portsmouth, 



100 JOHN CHAMBERS 

and all the other towns along the Ohio Eiver. 
At Maysville they formed a procession, and 
led on by the inspiring strains of the Cincin- 
nati Band playing the popular campaign tunes 
the Maysville Tippecanoe Club with its host of 
followers marched out of town and up the old 
road toward Washington. Arriving at the lit- 
tle town on the Pike they met other processions 
from the inland regions, and all joined in one 
great parade in front of the public square. At 
ten o 'clock they marched to the sound of music 
to the ground prepared for the exercises. The 
speakers' stand was on a low piece of pasture 
ground surrounded by rising slopes where the 
audience assembled. In front of the stand were 
between five and eight hundred old soldiers. 
There were delegates from the neighboring 
counties and from all over Kentucky, perhaps 
ten or twelve thousand in all. Everywhere were 
buckeye branches and waving banners and log 
cabins. 

The exercises began with a welcome to the 
soldiers, followed by a presentation of resolu- 
tions by John A. McClung. John Chambers 
then delivered a speech, and Marshall Key read 
the resolutions of the Harrisburg Convention 
nominating Harrison. More speeches followed. 
Morehead, Metcalfe, Menefee, Eichard Doug- 



THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN 1Q1 

lass of Ohio, and others paid their homage to 
the famous victor of Tippecanoe and the 
Thames. From three different stands at the 
same time speakers told the gathered crowds 
of the rugged virtues of Harrison and hurled 
invectives at the artful Van Buren. 

But the speeches were not all that had been 
prepared for the delectation of the multitude. 
Perhaps they alone would not have attracted a 
gathering of such proportions. There followed 
a banquet. Tables arranged in a hollow square 
about the large log cabin of the Central Tippe- 
canoe Club were heavily loaded with all man- 
ner of things good to eat. Near by — and per- 
haps not least acceptable — was the large table 
piled with barrels and hogsheads of hard cider, 
the beverage of the campaign. And when the 
salute of a hundred guns was fired two large 
wreaths of smoke, disengaging themselves, rose 
and floated high above the heads of the observ- 
ant Whigs until just over the speaker's stand 
they dispersed — an omen of the triumph of 
the two Whig candidates. At least so the en- 
thusiastic followers of the old man of battles 
told themselves as they finally took their leave 
of the festive scene. 202 

From the day of this celebration Chambers 
was a busy man. In meetings at home and in 



102 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the surrounding regions he charged the admin- 
istration with the responsibility for the finan- 
cial tribulations and with corrupt practices, 
protested against the encroachment of the ex- 
ecutive upon the legislative department, and 
sounded the cry for Harrison and reform. Ev- 
ery month saw greater enthusiasm in the West 
and more frequent Whig meetings. 

In September he joined a party of fellow 
Whigs and took the steamer Transit up the 
river on the way to a big celebration at Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio. At Portsmouth the party received 
ample reinforcements ; and as the five boats — 
one filled with ladies and four with the delega- 
tions from Portsmouth and Kentucky — made 
ready to ascend the Scioto, speeches were de- 
livered by Ex-Governors Morehead and Wic- 
lifTe. At eight o'clock on the morning of 
Thursday, September 17, they arrived at Chil- 
licothe and mingled with the thousands who 
awaited the arrival of General Harrison. About 
ten thirty a shout went up from the crowd 
gathered near the platform of the corner of 
Madeira's Hotel that Old Tip was coming. The 
rain came down in a deluge while the speaking 
progressed, but what cared the party that ral- 
lied to the standard of log cabin and hard cider. 
Again in the afternoon there was speech-mak- 



THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN 103 

ing at a sugar grove near by. For nearly two 
hours Harrison spoke, and was followed by 
John Chambers and Charles S. Todd. 

The exercises continued on the day follow- 
ing when Harrison was presented with a cane 
from the battlefield of Tippecanoe. As the 
Kentucky delegation was about to take its leave, 
a meeting was held at which resolutions of 
thanks to the people of Chillicothe were passed. 
Chambers acted as chairman and Lewis Col- 
lins, the editor of The Maysville Eagle and 
Kentucky's pioneer historian, served as sec- 
retary. 203 

But perhaps the biggest celebration was the 
Miami Valley convention that took place at 
Dayton, Ohio. Here was gathered, so said the 
Whigs, a crowd of one hundred thousand cheer- 
ing enthusiasts. General Harrison spoke for 
about an hour of the " great and good cause". 
Colonel Christie of New Orleans, and John 
Chambers of Kentucky also appeared and ad- 
dressed the ten acres of people. The speech of 
the latter (if we may trust the enthusiastic 
judgment of the correspondent of Niles' Regis- 
ter) was "enlivened by frequent sallies of real 
humor. He gave a narrative of the battle of 
the Thames, which he should be induced to 
write out for publication. ' ' Handling Colonel 



104 JOHN CHAMBERS 

E. M. Johnson with consideration because of 
his military services, "he took hold of the great 
'petticoat hero,' Senator Allen, and held him up 
before the searching fire of his sarcasm and re- 
buke, turning him first this way and then that, 
basting him now here and now there, as the 
blisters were seen to rise upon his epidermis, 
very much as a log-cabin house-wife manages 
a roasting goose, till every one present must 
have had a feeling of pity for the Ajax of loco- 
focracy in Ohio." 204 

A liberty pole one hundred fifty feet high 
was raised at Washington on the twenty-sixth 
of September, and Chambers was one of the 
speakers. Less than a week later he was at 
Eipley, Ohio, where the Whigs of Ohio and 
Kentucky had gathered. Harrison was there 
and so were Todd and Wicliffe and Metcalfe, 
and they spoke to a crowd of perhaps twenty 
thousand. During the remarks of Harrison 
the clouds were very threatening, and Cham- 
bers, who followed him, had scarcely finished 
complimenting the ladies when the rain de- 
scended. Then Todd spoke and after the rain 
Wicliffe and Metcalfe were heard. Down at 
the river, meanwhile, F. T. Chambers and Mc- 
Clung were addressing crowds from the top of 
a ferrv boat. 205 



THE LOG CABIN CAMPAIGN 105 

Thus went the last weeks of that remarkable 
campaign. On Monday morning before the elec- 
tion a last grand rally was held in each precinct 
in Mason County, and at the one in Washington 
the voice of Chambers was heard in a final 
plea. 206 Then for a few days the country held 
its breath and watched the bulletins. In Ken- 
tucky, Harrison defeated his opponent by a 
majority of nearly twenty-six thousand. 

In the country at large a considerable ma- 
jority for the Whig ticket convinced the unbe- 
lieving Democrats that the campaign which 
they had so derided had borne fruit in victory 
for the log cabin candidate; and an electoral 
vote of two hundred thirty-four to sixty 
brought an end, for the time being, to the long 
Democratic regime. The campaign on the part 
of the Whigs was, to say the least, not a digni- 
fied one. Lacking almost entirely in logical 
appeal, ostentatious in its display, ludicrous 
oftentimes in the extravagance of enthusiasm, 
it nevertheless was successful in welding to- 
gether a variety of conflicting elements. It is 
probable, however, that such methods would 
scarcely have brought victory had not the coun- 
try been ready and eager for a change from the 
calamitous four years that constituted the ad- 
ministration of Martin Van Buren. 



With Harrison in the White House 

When William Henry Harrison was command- 
ing General of the Army of the Northwest in 
the campaign of 1813 a young volunteer aid 
from Kentucky had won his gratitude by bring- 
ing order out of the confusion of his military 
papers. As he neared his seventieth year he 
ran for the Presidency of the United States, 
and in the Ohio Valley he found his former 
aid — now a man of sixty — making effective 
stump speeches in his behalf. He did not for- 
get the service and when the year 1841 came in, 
and the time for the inaugural ceremony ap- 
proached, he sent for John Chambers to ac- 
company him to Washington. 207 Charles S. 
Todd, at Harrison's request, also joined the 
party, and together with his two veteran aids 
the happy old man made his way to the Nation's 
capital. 

On the morning of the ninth of February the 
President's party arrived at Washington 
"amidst a storm of snow and of people". 208 

106 



IN THE WHITE HOUSE 107 

A great crowd, headed by the Mayor of the 
city, escorted the President elect to the City 
Hall and cordially welcomed him. 209 Harrison 
replied to the speeches and then withdrew to 
Gadsby's Hotel, which he made his headquar- 
ters until the fourth of March. Within a few 
days the new cabinet was announced. 210 Daniel 
Webster was to be Secretary of State, Thomas 
Ewing of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury, John 
Bell, Secretary of War, G. E. Badger, Secretary 
of the Navy, John J. Crittenden, Attorney-Gen- 
eral, and Francis Granger, Postmaster-General. 
Harrison's inauguration was a scene of great 
popular demonstration. Tippecanoe clubs, mili- 
tia companies, college students, and veterans of 
the War of 1812 joined in the procession. Log 
cabins and banners resurrected from the fall 
campaign were there in abundance. There was 
an entire lack of pageantry. Harrison was 
described as riding u ona mean-looking white 
horse, in the center of seven others, in a plain 
frock-coat or surtout, undistinguishable from 
any of those before, behind, or around him." 211 
From the east front of the Capitol he read his 
inaugural address — a rather cumbrous affair 
filled with references to the politics of the 
Eomans. 212 The address had been submitted 
to Daniel Webster and revised somewhat by 



108 JOHN CHAMBERS 

him to the sacrifice of many allusions to an- 
cient history. 213 

The hero of Tippecanoe now became master 
of the White House. It was reported that, in 
spite of the appropriations of the preceding 
administrations and the reputed luxury of Mar- 
tin Van Buren's regime, Harrison found the 
Presidential home almost destitute of furniture 
and requested Chambers to purchase whatever 
was necessary, remarking that he would pay 
for it himself if Congress refused. 214 There 
were many things of importance to be thought 
of in the first few weeks of the new administra- 
tion but it is probable that the matter which 
most fully absorbed the mind of the new Execu- 
tive, forced itself into his leisure hours, and 
followed him into the wakeful night was the 
distribution of public offices. Long years had 
the Whigs been without participation in gov- 
ernmental office, and with the turn of the politi- 
cal wheel there appeared a clamorous army of 
applicants. 

Chambers, who had agreed to act as the 
President's private secretary until the arrival 
of William Taylor (Harrison's son-in-law), 
was in a position to fully appreciate the un- 
pleasant features of the situation. 215 Knowing 
that he was a strong personal friend of the 



IN THE WHITE HOUSE 109 

President and in a position of intimate influ- 
ence, the office seekers came to him by the 
scores, pleading, cajoling, and demanding his 
help with the giver of political plums. To 
Chambers this was exceedingly irksome, and he 
soon began to wish to get away from the city 
of Washington and return to his private affairs. 
But the President objected. Chambers must 
stay in Washington and accept some office. He 
offered him the place of Treasurer, but Cham- 
bers declined the honor. The governorship of 
the Territory of Iowa was tendered to him, but 
this he also refused. The President, however, 
had set his heart on placing his old friend in 
office, and so Chambers at length agreed to ac- 
cept the post in Iowa. 21G 

The position of Governor of the Territory of 
Iowa and Superintendent of Indian Affairs 
carried a salary of twenty-five hundred dol- 
lars. 217 Naturally there were others who de- 
sired the place. Out in Iowa, where Eobert 
Lucas was holding his last few weeks of of- 
fice, at least two had started for Washington 
to sue for the privilege of succeeding him. 218 
Persistent rumors came to the Territory to the 
effect that General James Wilson of New 
Hampshire was to be appointed. 219 Finally 
news reached the frontier that Chambers had 



HO JOHN CHAMBERS 

received the position. The story was circulated 
that Webster had proposed the name of James 
Wilson and that the President had said that 
he had promised Chambers the appointment 
and if he wanted it he should have it. Webster 
insisted that his friend "tall Jim" must go to 
Iowa, whereupon Old Tippecanoe replied with 
emphasis that the Secretary of State might "go 
to the devil". 220 

Webster was not the only disappointed cabi- 
net member. John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, 
though he had always been a close friend of 
Chambers, had made up his mind that the gov- 
ernorship of Iowa should go to his friend, Or- 
lando Brown, an editor of Frankfort. "I am 
for you as governor", he wrote in January, 
' ' and I shall not, as lazy lawyers often do, sub- 
mit the case ; I shall argue that case ; I shall try 
to give Chambers some other directions. We 
are old friends, and I can do as much with him 
as almost anybody else can". 221 To Kobert P. 
Letcher, Governor of Kentucky, and a strong 
mutual friend, he wrote urging him to "write 
to 'Old Tip' a strong letter in favor of Old 
Master'', as Brown was called. 222 

A picturesquely interesting character was 
Orlando Brown. To answer Crittenden's let- 
ter, he chose a time when his wife and the chil- 



IN THE WHITE HOUSE HI 

dren were attending a sleight of hand perform- 
ance by Monsieur Adrien. "Your humble ser- 
vant is left at home", he wrote, "to take care 
of the baby and to muse over his contemplated 
government of Iowa. Ah Sir, the way I would 
play Governor would be interesting. I would 
write a marvellous proper message and set 
most wholesome examples". He disclaimed the 
idea that emolument or reward were motives. 
The strong motive with him was the desire to 
leave his children a name "and not to have 
them designated as the editor's sons." 223 

Letcher 's letters also add to the illuminating 
glimpse of the candidate's character. "The 
young Govr. of Iowa", he wrote in the latter 
part of February, "is sitting up, in the corner, 
smoking one of my segars and reading the 
Edinburg Eeview. He looks very much like a 
Govr., and I am very particular in telling him 
how to act, when he gets to his Govnt, as much 
so, as ever Don Quixote was, in lecturing San- 
cho. I shall lecture him also, upon another 
point, and that is, to be ready not [to] take the 
office if it should not come." 224 

In Washington, meanwhile, the round of 
events of the first month of the administration 
was varied and continuous. Daily did the vex- 
ing problem of patronage confront the old war 



112 JOHN CHAMBERS 

hero. He met the cabinet in frequent meetings 
to settle administrative policies. He canvassed 
the financial situation and issued a call for an 
extra session of Congress, and from time to 
time adapted himself to the social necessities 
of the Presidency. On the thirteenth of the 
month he entertained at dinner a party includ- 
ing Tyler and Calhoun, Webster and Clay, Crit- 
tenden and R. M. Johnson, and Chambers and 
Todd. 225 

The next day Crittenden burned the midnight 
oil to write a disappointed letter to Governor 
Letcher. "I have been laying my trains", he 
said, "and flattering myself that I was making 
progress toward the accomplishment of our ob- 
ject in making Orlando governor of Iowa. 
Chambers was to be located here. I was pleased 
to think that was fixed. To my surprise, in the 
last few days, I have understood that Chambers 
has changed his mind, and is to go to Iowa as 
Governor, and the indications now are that such 
will be the result. This is going a little ahead 
of what is generally known, and you must treat 
it as confidential; but disagreeable as it is, you 
must let Orlando know. I like Chambers, and 
cannot blame him, but he has disappointed me 
in two respects, — by not staying here himself, 
and interfering with my hopes for Orlando." 226 



IN THE WHITE HOUSE 113 

John Chambers was commissioned Governor 
of the Territory of Iowa by President Harri- 
son on March 25, 1841. 227 Two days later the 
President was seized with a chill and his doctors 
began a fight with pneumonia. 228 For a little 
more than a week he struggled and suffered. 
On the second of April, Chambers and Todd in- 
formed those who inquired at the White House 
that the President was better; 229 but on the 
third he became worse, and a half hour past 
midnight on the morning of Palm Sunday, 
April 4, the "kind old man" died. Chambers 
and Todd were with him at the last, and when 
life had departed Chambers reverently closed 
the eyes of his long time friend. The funeral 
took place on Wednesday, April 7. After re- 
maining at the White House for a few days 
making private memoranda of the President's 
business for his son, and assisting the bereaved 
family in their preparations for departure, 230 
he set out for Kentucky to make ready for his 
new field of labor. In company with 0. H. W. 
Stull, 231 who had been appointed Secretary of 
the Territory, he reached Maysville on the nine- 
teenth of April, and proceeded at once to Cedar 
Hill. 232 

On a Monday morning, the third of May, 1841, 
a steamboat left Maysville with its prow turned 

8 



114 JOHN CHAMBERS 

down the river toward the distant Territory of 
Iowa, and among the passengers was John 
Chambers. 233 In the days when there were no 
steamboats and when the little port clinging to 
the outer edge of the Nation's growth bore the 
primitive name of Limestone, he had come there 
a boy of fourteen. Now, a man of past three 
score years, he was leaving a State large in 
population and in power to guide the uncertain 
ways of a western Territory — a handful of 
frontier communities strung along the west 
shore of the Father of Waters. 

Somewhere on the Ohio bank, probably at 
Cincinnati, they stopped on the fifth of the 
month — long enough for Chambers to take the 
oath of office before John McLean, Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. At Louisville he landed again and 
bought two new dresses to send home as pres- 
ents to his daughters Mary and Laura. From 
there they passed on to St. Louis and up the 
Mississippi Eiver. At six o'clock in the even- 
ing of May 12, 1841, they reached the town of 
Burlington. 



XI 

Beyond the Mississippi 

As the steamboat which brought John Cham- 
bers to his new post neared the landing at 
Burlington the afternoon sun was fast dropping 
to the edge of the hills that formed the sky 
line back of the little pioneer community. The 
inhabitants of the town had not been entirely 
unaware of his approach. But the news had 
reached them tardily, and though the Whigs 
made instant plans to hire the ferry-boat 
"Shockoquon" and meet him on the river be- 
tween Fort Madison and Burlington, they 
found the time too limited for such honors and 
regretfully gave them up. 234 The wharf was 
well lined with citizens, however, as the steam- 
boat came to its final moorings, and they gave 
to the new Executive a royal Whig reception. 

On the bank of the river they began cere- 
monies at once. James W. Grimes, a sprightly 
young lawyer of twenty-four years of age, had 
been deputized to speak the welcoming word. 
Three years before Grimes had been one of a 

115 



116 JOHN CHAMBERS 

committee to invite the newly arrived Gover- 
nor Lucas to a public dinner in his honor, but 
during the administration of that stern old first 
Governor the two men had found many points 
of disagreement. 235 Now the young Whig re- 
joiced to greet a Governor of his own party 
and his tongue was lavish in praise. 

In the new Executive, he said, the people 
recognized one of the pioneers of the West, a 
veteran legislator of the chivalrous State of 
Kentucky, a leader in national councils, a cham- 
pion of the Nation's rights in the second war 
for independence, but above all they rejoiced 
to behold in him one who enjoyed the unbound- 
ed confidence of their late venerated Chief 
Executive. He digressed long enough to eulo- 
gize Harrison, and then returned to his more 
immediate duty. "We bid you welcome'', he 
said, "to the smiling prairies of Iowa; we wel- 
come you to the hospitalities of our city, and 
to the warm affections of a generous and noble 
hearted people. We bid you welcome as the 
personal friend and companion in arms of the 
illustrious and lamented Harrison. We wel- 
come you as our adopted fellow citizen, and as 
the Executive head of our Territory." 236 

The white haired man of sixty years listened 
gravely to the warm words of the sturdy fron- 



BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 117 

tiersman, and replied quietly and with tact. 
He intended, he said, to identify himself with 
the interests and the prosperity of the Terri- 
tory — to make it his future home and the 
home of his family. He would be a Hawkeye 
in spirit and truth, and in the discharge of of- 
ficial duties would try to do impartial justice 
to all. He urged that, as citizens of a Territory 
not participating in the government of the 
United States, they refrain from identifying 
themselves with the political differences and 
party interests existing between the States. 

If he had not appreciated the fact before, 
the realization must now have presented itself 
forcibly to John Chambers that he had jour- 
neyed to the border line and that he had under 
his tutelage a raw young Commonwealth of 
pioneers. But he had, as Grimes intimated, 
been a pioneer himself. "In my first descent 
of the Ohio river, ' ' he said, l ' the traces of civili- 
zation were 'few and far between;' a few log 
cabins were its only representatives in what 
now constitutes the populous and flourishing 
State of Ohio. I am not therefore unacquainted 
with the value of frontier population; it will 
always be found, as it always has been in our 
country, to include the industrious and enter- 
prising from every part of the Union; and in 



118 JOHN CHAMBERS 

times of difficulty and danger more than an 
equal proportion of the bone and sinew of the 
nation. ' ' 237 When he had finished he was es- 
corted to the National House, the new Gover- 
nor leaning on the arm of Colonel Bennett; 
while James G. Edwards, the Whig editor of 
Burlington "brought up the rear with a small 
troop of the Gov's negroes." 238 

The dignified old man whom the citizens of 
the little river town greeted so stoutly had 
turned the pages to a new chapter in the story 
of his life, but it was the chapter that contained 
the climax of his career. He came in his late 
years ta scenes like those he had known in his 
boyhood. As Governor of Iowa he found him- 
self in charge of a pioneer commonwealth 
which had before it the same long process of 
development which he had witnessed for nearly 
half a century in the State of Kentucky. 

Sixty years well lived and full of honors he 
had put behind him. The physical vigor that 
he had carried into the court room in his early 
professional career he no longer retained. The 
spirit which had flashed fire at the accusations 
of Barry and Eowan in the Desha trial burned 
more quietly now, but it was only subdued in 
the intense heat of a whiter flame. The three 
score years had whitened his hair and drawn 



BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 119 

lines in his face. He had grown stouter in fig- 
ure and slower in movement. His younger 
years and more active ways he had given to 
Kentucky — to her law courts and her army 
of defense, to her legislature and to her Con- 
gressional delegation. But there had come to 
him a maturity of judgment and ripeness of 
wisdom that time alone could bring. Now he 
had moved far from the land which for so many 
years had been moulding him for larger duties ; 
and out to the West where two great rivers em- 
braced a fertile soil and a scattered but hardy 
population he had come in the late afternoon of 
his life, strong with the strength of well-season- 
ed oak, tried by years of experience and ready 
to give to a rugged people the ripest fruition 
of his three score years. 

The energetic spirit bred by his life in Ken- 
tucky was in no way lessened by the lengthen- 
ing of his years. His mind was as keen as ever 
and more widely trained. His determination 
had suffered no diminution, though experience 
had mellowed it with more of tact. He applied 
to his new duties the same indomitable will and 
the same tireless and conscientious persistence. 
He hated shams and despised hypocrisy and 
denounced both as plainly as ever. 

The long years of political life had perhaps 



120 JOHN CHAMBERS 

deepened his partisan feeling. He was a Whig 
in every fiber of his political being. Bnt he did 
not fail to recognize that he was a citizen as 
well as a politician — a Governor as well as a 
Whig office-holder. Scarcely had he set foot 
upon the soil of Iowa before he was urging the 
citizens to avoid partisan strife; and through- 
out the four and a half years of his administra- 
tion he made it his creed to keep his official 
duties clear from the embroilments of party 
politics. 

Chambers was never a man of rugged 
health. 239 A disease that affected his chest per- 
haps inclined him as he grew older to droop 
his head forward from its natural erect car- 
riage. He was a large man, but probably not 
greatly above medium height. 240 In personal 
appearance he was always most scrupulously 
neat, and would as soon have thought of miss- 
ing his breakfast as of omitting his daily shave. 
Perhaps the happiest days of his life had been 
those early days when his wife Hannah dis- 
pensed hospitality at Cedar Hill. The years 
that followed her death were many and full of 
activities, but they could not blot out his grief. 
The lines tightened ever more closely about his 
lips and gave an air of stern dignity to his face ; 
but through eyes that were calm and steadfast 



BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 121 

he looked out upon his remaining years with 
unflinching courage. 

One who came to the Territory of Iowa be- 
fore Chambers, characterized the second Gov- 
ernor as "a sterling, sturdy, fresh-complex- 
ioned, honest gentleman from Kentucky." 241 
Socially he was genial and courteous, and to 
the last degree kindly and generous to those in 
need. In his family life the wealth of warm and 
affectionate feeling showed itself most strongly. 
During the periods of absence from home he 
wrote to his children of his own doings and 
plans, and of his hopes for them. He encour- 
aged, praised, and sometimes chided — all in a 
spirit of the most tender affection. 242 When he 
came to Iowa four of his children were still un- 
married — Mary and Laura, who were nineteen 
and seventeen years old, and two boys, John 
James and Henry who were fifteen and thir- 
teen. 243 But when Chambers first went out to 
Iowa he took none of his immediate family 
with him, intending to find a suitable location 
and then have Mary and Laura come out and 
keep house for him. 244 It was a year, however, 
before he gathered his children about him in 
the Territory of Iowa. Mr. J. 0. Phister had 
accompanied him as private secretary and 
proved a very efficient assistant. Mr. 0. H. W. 



122 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Stull, the Secretary of the Territory, had taken 
with him to the western Commonwealth his 
wife and, to the delight of the impressionable 
young men of the Territory, six "blooming 
daughter s". 245 

Eobert Lncas, the outgoing Governor, was 
at Iowa City when his successor arrived in the 
Territory; but before leaving Burlington he 
had given instructions that, should Governor 
Chambers arrive in his absence and present his 
credentials and oath of office, the seals and ap- 
purtenances of the Executive Department 
might be turned over to him. 246 On the day fol- 
lowing his landing at Burlington, May 13, 1841, 
Chambers complied with the necessary formali- 
ties and entered upon his service as Governor 
of the Territory of Iowa. A facetious young 
Democrat, describing this transition of admin- 
istrations, wrote to Jesse Williams: "Col. 
Nealley has just given the Gov. the keys of the 
hog trough. The d — n yankees are coming in 
daily." 247 

Lucas being out of town, Chambers could not 
call upon him. He might and probably should 
have written to Iowa City notifying the former 
Executive of his arrival and assumption of of- 
fice, but he did not do so, and it was more than a 
month before Lucas returned to Burlington. 



BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 123 

Meantime Daniel Webster, the Secretary of 
State, had sent no notice whatever to Lucas of 
his removal or of the appointment of a suc- 
cessor. Indeed, it was not until June 17, nearly 
three months after the date of the new commis- 
sion, that Lucas received from that official any 
tidings of the change. Such delay on the part 
of Webster, together with the neglect of Cham- 
bers to write to his predecessor announcing his 
arrival, caused Lucas some embarrassment 
and might have produced considerable bitter- 
ness between the two Executives. 248 

Chambers probably looked upon the delay of 
the Secretary of State as an added grievance 
against that gentleman. He and Webster had 
on several occasions run afoul of each other. 
When Webster had revised the Inaugural Ad- 
dress of President Harrison he proposed some 
changes, which in a conference with Chambers 
(then acting as the President's private sec- 
retary) led to a clash of a somewhat bitter 
nature between the two men. 249 A few days 
later Webster found himself rebuffed by Har- 
rison in his attempt to place General James 
Wilson in the office of Governor of Iowa; and 
when the nomination of Chambers was sent to 
the Senate, it was said — with how much truth 
it would be difficult to determine — to have been 



124 JOHN CHAMBERS 

laid upon the table at the instigation of Web- 
ster. 250 

In December, 1841, Chambers wrote a long 
letter to his friend Crittenden, who seems to 
have warned him of danger to his official posi- 
tion and urged him to use prudence. It clearly 
illustrates a characteristic of Chambers — the 
tendency to be outspoken at the risk of his per- 
sonal interests. ' ' I fully appreciate ' ', he wrote, 
"your admonition to be ' cautious and prudent' 
and acknowledge the justice of your remarks 
upon my ' manner ' but it is 'too late in the day' 
now to correct it effectually. You would how- 
ever if you knew how very prudent I am in my 
official intercourse give me credit for greater 
amendment than you could have expected; but 
I solemnly assure you it has not resulted from 
the fear of the consequences you hint at. I 
should hate myself if I thought such a consid- 
eration could influence a single word or action 
of my life. I know that the i Ajax' of the North 
has an evil eye upon me, and I shall not willing- 
ly quit the world without an opportunity of tell- 
ing him what I think of him. ,, He then com- 
mented briefly upon the trouble ensuing from 
the proposed change of the Inaugural Address, 
and continued: "He may even in the short 
period I have yet to remain subject to Ex ecu- 



BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI 125 

tive pleasure produce the effect you apprehend 
may result from my own rashness, if he does he 
will do well to conceal his agency in it behind 
the council chamber screen. " 251 

Soon after taking office Chambers visited 
Iowa City, then an infant town far to the in- 
terior. It had been created as the seat of gov- 
ernment of the Territory and the capitol build- 
ing, begun during the administration of Lucas, 
was now nearing completion. 252 It was not 
ready for use by the legislature in the winter 
of 1841, but the citizens of the new town gener- 
ously offered accommodations and the session 
was convened at that place by a proclamation 
issued by Governor Lucas on April 30, 1841. 253 

Chambers did not like the little inland town 
of Iowa City. He found it almost without mails 
and not convenient of access; and so he de- 
clared his intention of residing at Burlington. 254 
Six miles west of the town he found a spot to 
his liking. In the latter part of the year he 
wrote to Crittenden: "I have bought a farm 
near Burlington and hope to be able to secure 
two or three thousand acres of fine land within 
half a days journey of it, for my four youngest 
children, so that my destiny is fixed. I am to 
be an Iowa farmer for the remnant of my life. ' ' 
And he reiterated the statement so often upon 



126 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the lips of those who have spent many years in 
the toils of political affairs: "I long for the 
quiet of private life and shall embrace it at the 
first moment I can do so without an apparent 
wilful desertion of a part of some difficulty." 255 



XII 

GOVERNOR OF THE TERRITORY OF IOWA 

The Organic Act of the Territory of Iowa 
provided that the Governor should also act as 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs. As Gover- 
nor he was to receive a salary of fifteen hundred 
dollars; as Superintendent he was to be paid 
an additional thousand dollars. 256 Each depart- 
ment carried with it onerous duties and prob- 
lems difficult of solution. The fact that one 
involved the government of white settlers while 
the other implied supervision of the red inhab- 
itants naturally made the two distinct and sepa- 
rate. For that reason, matters relating to his 
activities as Governor are treated separately, 
while affairs connected with his superintend- 
ence of the Indians will receive consideration in 
a later chapter. 

It would perhaps be wrong to say that it re- 
quired less tact to preserve peace and good feel- 
ing with the white than with the red population. 
Governor Lucas, even though the legislature 
was dominated by a majority of his own politi- 

127 



128 JOHN CHAMBERS 

cal belief, had found his three years of office 
somewhat plentifully strewn with thorns. Gov- 
ernor Chambers came into office as a Whig 
appointee when the Territory of Iowa was 
largely Democratic, and throughout his admin- 
istration he had to contend with a legislative 
body in which his political party was in the 
minority. 

The people of Iowa were a vigorous, deter- 
mined people who had left the more settled 
portion of the country east of the Mississippi 
and had cast their lot with things new and un- 
tamed. Energy they had in abundance. Poise 
and an evenness of temper they lacked. An 
impulsive, headstrong vein was apparent in all 
their activities. It cropped out in their politi- 
cal conventions, in their legislative sessions, 
and in the editorial columns of their news- 
papers. The editors of the early partisan 
sheets were prone to call one another and the 
men of the opposing party, "liars", "pol- 
troons", and "scoundrels"; and they were 
made no wiser by an occasional caning at the 
hands of an irate victim of such abuse. Yet 
the substratum of the pioneer population pos- 
sessed a sturdy integrity and a rugged deter- 
mination that conquered the rough frontier and 
in the few short vears of Territorial existence 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 129 

built up institutions and made ready for capa- 
ble and prosperous Statehood. 

The task which presented itself to Chambers 
was not a simple one; nor were the thorns of 
criticism which had made life miserable for his 
predecessor to be without point for him. In 
June, 1841, the month after his arrival, he was 
denounced in the resolutions of the Democratic 
Territorial Convention as an enemy to the West 
and to the western settler. 257 The practice of 
the Federal government in sending to Iowa as 
Governor and other Territorial officers " im- 
portations' ' from the east was also a source of 
grievance to the ambitious citizens of the young 
Commonwealth. 258 But Chambers was pos- 
sessed of tact and his intention of settling per- 
manently in Iowa and identifying himself with 
its institutions did much to allay this ill feeling. 

The summer months of 1841 went by unevent- 
fully and the time drew near for the convening 
of the Legislative Assembly. In the month pre- 
vious to the meeting of that body Chambers 
found himself face to face with one of the per- 
ennial problems of the Territory — the bound- 
ary dispute with the State of Missouri. 259 Dur- 
ing the administration of Governor Lucas the 
trouble had reached a crisis in which armed 
troops gathered on both sides of the line ready 

9 



130 JOHN CHAMBERS 

for action. Violent measures were averted, 
however, and the matter was turned over to a 
dallying Congress for settlement. While the 
excitement was at its height in 1839 Uriah Gre- 
gory, a Missouri Sheriff, was arrested by the 
Iowa authorities and held a prisoner for some 
time at Bloomington (now Muscatine). 260 

On November 10, 1841, Governor Eeynolds 
of Missouri wrote to Governor Chambers, stat- 
ing that the legislature of Missouri had in- 
structed him to cause suit to be brought on be- 
half of Gregory against the persons in the Ter- 
ritory of Iowa who had apprehended and im- 
prisoned him. He proposed to Chambers that 
the authorities of Missouri and Iowa agree as to 
the facts in the case and submit it to the Su- 
preme Court of the United States for adjudica- 
tion. Chambers replied that the question of 
the boundary was one over which the Territory 
had no control, since the Organic Act specific- 
ally reserved to Congress the power to alter 
the Territorial boundaries. Hence no agree- 
ment into which they might enter would author- 
ize the Supreme Court to take cognizance of 
the dispute. 

Furthermore, Governor Chambers doubted 
whether the Supreme Court could constitution- 
ally, even upon an agreed case and by consent 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 131 

of the parties, take jurisdiction of a controversy 
between one of the States and a Territory 
which remained subject to the legislation of 
Congress. He expressed his intention, never- 
theless, of submitting the communication of 
Governor Reynolds to the Legislative Assem- 
bly ; and this he did upon their convening a few 
weeks later. 261 

On December 6, 1841, the Fourth Legislative 
Assembly came together in Butler's Capitol at 
Iowa City. 262 Both houses were Democratic. 
In the preceding session, for the only time dur- 
ing the Territorial period, the Council had had 
a majority of one Whig; but between sessions 
the seat of J. C. Hawkins, a Whig, was vacated 
and Shepherd Leffler, a Democrat, was chosen 
as his successor, thus restoring the Democratic 
majority. The new Governor sent his message 
to the two houses on Wednesday, the eighth of 
December. 263 The subject of greatest impor- 
tance in the mind of Governor Chambers was 
that of ascertaining the will of the people in 
regard to Statehood. 

A year and a half before, a law had been 
passed by the legislature in compliance with 
the earnest recommendation of Governor Lu- 
cas, providing for the taking of a vote on the 
question of a State Constitutional Conven- 



132 JOHN CHAMBERS 

tion. 264 The resulting vote in August, 1840, 
had been decisive against a convention. Since 
then, however, urged Chambers, the population 
had been rapidly increasing; and recent legis- 
lation by Congress for the participation of 
Iowa in the distribution of the proceeds of the 
sale of public lands and granting to new States 
which should be admitted into the Union five 
hundred thousand acres of land for internal 
improvements had removed the force of the 
argument that Statehood would mean burden- 
some taxation. So he recommended the pass- 
age of a law providing for the taking of a new 
vote on the subject of the formation of a State 
Constitution. 

The system of education in the Territory de- 
served the close attention of the legislators. 
He urged that provision be made to exempt 
from the necessity of bearing arms those who 
had conscientious scruples against it. The con- 
dition and financial needs of the public build- 
ings at Iowa City and of the Penitentiary re- 
ceived his attention. He also urged the need of 
improving the Mississippi Eiver above the 
mouth of the Des Moines where the impedi- 
ments in the channel caused great damage, and 
recommended an appeal to Congress for aid to 
this end. 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 133 

There was little that could be called partizan 
in these recommendations. Indeed, the meas- 
ure upon which Chambers laid the greatest 
stress, the matter of Statehood, was one to 
which the Democrats gave their support, while 
the Whigs vigorously opposed it — knowing full 
well that in the event of Iowa's admission the 
Democratic majority would leave no room for 
Whig office holders. Chambers, himself, was 
well aware that the formation of State govern- 
ment would mean the termination of his own 
position and that it would give to the ranks of 
the Democracy an additional State. He wrote 
in December to Crittenden that ' ' They are now 
making a rush for a state government and will 
probably present their constitution next winter 
and if Congress will receive them, they will 
present to the Senate as fine a specimen of in- 
veterate locofocoism as any other state in the 
Union." 265 He must have felt that conditions 
in the Territory were such that, aside from par- 
ty considerations, they warranted Statehood, 
and that under such circumstances it was only 
right that the will of the people should be ascer- 
tained. 

The Legislative Assembly responded to his 
suggestion with a law, approved February 16, 
1842, providing for a vote of the people at the 



134 JOHN CHAMBERS 

next general election on the subject of the form- 
ation of a State Constitution and government. 266 
There ensued a vigorous discussion of the ques- 
tion in the spring and early summer. The 
argument of most effect against Statehood was 
that it would entail so great a burden of taxa- 
tion. In August the election occurred, and 
every county cast a majority of votes against 
a convention. Once more had the people de- 
cided that taxation was too high a price for 
independence. 267 

Two measures received the executive veto 
at this session — both of them on the ground 
that they were unconstitutional. 268 The first 
was a joint resolution relative to carrying the 
mail from Iowa City to Keosauqua. Cham- 
bers vetoed it on the theory that it necessitated 
a departure by the postmasters from their du- 
ties to the Post Office Department. An attempt 
to pass it over his veto in the House resulted 
in a vote of but eight to eighteen. The other 
instance was his veto of an act appointing an 
Acting Commissioner at Iowa City and defin- 
ing his duties. The bill appears to have con- 
templated the welding into one the two offices 
of Territorial Agent and Superintendent of the 
Public Buildings at Iowa City (both of which 
were filled by appointment of the Governor) 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 135 

and the naming in the bill the person who was 
to occupy the newly created office. Chambers 
quoted from the Organic Act the provision 
which decreed that the Governor should nomi- 
nate and by and with the advice and consent 
of the Council appoint all officers not provided 
for in said Organic Act, and withheld his con- 
sent from the bill. The attempt to pass it over 
his veto was unsuccessful. 269 

During the first month of the session Cham- 
bers wrote to Crittenden: "Your wish that I 
may be popular here is dictated by the kindness 
of your heart, but the soundness of your head 
must have reminded you that it is not the des- 
tiny of a territorial Governor if he honestly 
and fearlessly does his duty". "The truth 
is", he continued, "I found a decided majority 
here opposed to Whig principles .... they 
retain that Majority and must continue to do 
so for want of talents and firmness to oppose 
them." 270 Throughout his administration there 
was no change in the political complexion of 
the legislature and he remained subject to the 
disadvantages that surround a minority Gov- 
ernor. The session adjourned on February 18, 
1842, and Chambers returned soon thereafter to 
Burlington. 

He now asked for and secured permission 



136 JOHN CHAMBERS 

from the Federal government to make a trip of 
some weeks to Kentucky on private business. 271 
On the twenty-first of March he left on a steam- 
boat going down the river and reached Wash- 
ington, Kentucky, about the first of April. 272 
His official duties were performed during his 
absence by Secretary Stull, who became for the 
time being Acting Governor. 273 

Chambers did not remain many weeks in his 
old home, for he was back again in Iowa before 
the middle of May. 274 This time he did not 
come alone. His oldest son, Joseph Sprigg 
Chambers, with his wife and little daughter 
Mary, accompanied him, and the two boys, 
John James and Henry, also became emigrants 
at this time. 275 Upon the farm west of Bur- 
lington Governor Chambers built a frame dwell- 
ing and upon its completion installed his family 
therein and began housekeeping. Because of 
the abundance of grouse in the vicinity he 
named the place "Grouseland", and it became 
a center for neighborly gatherings and a ren- 
dezvous for friends both white and red. The 
two boys were placed in a family where they 
could pursue their studies and at the same time 
learn something of industrial occupations. 276 

On the fifth of December the Legislative As- 
sembly convened at Iowa City and found a por- 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 137 

tion of the new capitol finished and ready for 
their accommodation. The message of Gover- 
nor Chambers 277 nrged again the salutary 
measures which he had emphasized in his mes- 
sage of the preceding session. The need of an 
adequate system of confinement for convicted 
criminals necessitated the devising of some 
means to complete the penitentiary. Again he 
invited their attention to the matter of educa- 
tion, remarking that he feared that " until the 
permission to organize township schools is ren- 
dered a positive duty, enforced by proper pen- 
alties for neglect, the laws now in force will 
remain inoperative." 278 He deplored the fact 
that the failure of the officers of the militia to 
make returns concerning numbers and equip- 
ments had made the distribution of arms by 
the United States government impossible, and 
he urged provisions for the enforcement of the 
laws upon this subject. 

The experience of another year had but con- 
firmed his opinion as to the great importance 
of removing the obstructions to the navigation 
of the Mississippi, and so he submitted to their 
consideration the question of memorializing the 
present Congress for an appropriation. In re- 
sponse to this recommendation, a memorial was 
passed by both houses asking Congress for an 



138 JOHN CHAMBERS 

appropriation for a canal at each of the rapids 
of the Mississippi Eiver. 

He called attention to the necessity of re- 
trenchment in expenses and recommended dis- 
patch in legislative business. 279 Chambers in 
writing to his two boys near the beginning of 
the session remarked that ' ' There is very little 
for the Legislature to do that can be useful, and 
yet there is not the least probability of their 
adjourning before the 21st [of] February." 280 
The session came to a close on February 17, 
1843, four days before the date predicted by 
Chambers. 

Among the eighty- three private acts of this 
session was one entitled "An Act to divorce 
certain persons therein named. ' ' 281 It released 
the bonds of matrimony from no less than nine- 
teen couples. When the measure was sent to 
Governor Chambers for approval he returned 
it with an emphatic veto. 282 He deemed the an- 
nulment of so sacred a connection to be mani- 
fest injustice where the party accused was de- 
nied an opportunity to be heard and held that 
such hearing could only be obtained in a judi- 
cial proceeding. He emphasized the theory of 
government that the three bodies of magistracy 
should be kept distinct, and maintained that the 
legislative exercise of the divorce power was an 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 139 

encroachment upon the sphere of the judiciary. 
Hitherto, he said, he had given a reluctant ap- 
proval to acts affecting individual cases of this 
kind, but more mature reflection and examina- 
tion of the statute books had satisfied him that 
too much facility and encouragement had been 
given to applications for interposition and that 
it was safer and more consistent with the prin- 
ciples of government to leave the matter to the 
action of the courts. The vetoed bill was re- 
turned to the house from which it originated. 
Then it was taken up, passed over the executive 
disapproval and became a law. 

It appears from the correspondence of Jesse 
Williams, a young Democrat who had come out 
to the Territory from Ohio with Governor Lu- 
cas, that he heard, in the summer of 1843, 
rumors of changes to be made in Territorial 
offices by President Tyler. Straightway he 
planted his hopes on securing the position of 
Secretary. He wrote to his uncle, M. T. Wil- 
liams of Ohio, who made inquiries of politicians 
in that State and replied that as far as he could 
ascertain there was no change contemplated — 
"none as to the Govr. at least and probably 
none as to Secretary , \ 283 Nevertheless, in the 
fall Secretary Stull was removed. 284 A Whig 
named S. J. Burr was appointed as his succes- 



140 JOHN CHAMBERS 

sor; and Jesse Williams bided his time until a 
change of administration brought him the cov- 
eted position. 285 

When the Territorial legislature met in De- 
cember, 1843, Governor Chambers "considered 
it his duty" again to recommend the passage 
of a law for a vote of the people on the question 
of a State government. 286 He advised also that 
application be made to Congress to fix and es- 
tablish, at the present session, a boundary for 
the proposed State and to sanction the calling 
of a convention. "The establishment of a bound- 
ary for us by Congress", he said, "will prevent 
the intervention of any difficulty or delay in our 
admission into the Union, which might result 
from our assuming limits which that body 
might not be disposed to concede to us." 287 

The legislature passed an act in February, 
1844, for ascertaining the will of the people at 
the next April election. A memorial was also 
passed asking Congress for authorization and 
an appropriation for a State Constitutional 
Convention, and suggesting boundaries for the 
State. The limits proposed in the memorial 
were the same as now exist for Iowa except on 
the north where the boundary line followed the 
forty-fifth parallel of latitude from the Missis- 
sippi to the source of the Cactus Eiver, an east 



GOVERNOR OF IOWA 141 

branch of the Sioux, and thence by these rivers 
to the Missouri. 288 

The assembling of a new Congress caused 
Chambers to urge the legislature to renew its 
appeals to that body for relief, by means of a 
Federal appropriation, from the severe losses 
due to the obstructions in the Mississippi Eiver. 
The Governor also made recommendations 
concerning the completion of the penitentiary, 
the enforcement of returns from the militia 
officers, and the limiting of the Territorial ex- 
penses. He reported the almost total neglect 
of the law authorizing the organization of pub- 
lic schools and remarked that "it is mortifying 
to see how little interest the important subject 
of education excites among us." 289 

On Christmas day, 1843, Chambers took the 
occasion to write to the two boys a letter full of 
affectionate advice. 290 The family was by this 
time comfortably settled at Grouseland. The 
house was built on the old style with a center 
hall running through the house and rooms on 
either side. The front porch extended the en- 
tire length of the house. Along each side of the 
drive which led to the front door Chambers 
planted trees, and about the farm he made im- 
provements which were said to be "exemplary 
to the neighboring farmers". Here he lived 



142 JOHN CHAMBERS 

when not attending legislative sessions at Iowa 
City. Sprigg and his wife and child, John 
James and Henry, and Mary and Lanra were 
with him this winter and they kept open house 
as they had done years before at Cedar Hill. 291 
Sprigg Chambers — a versatile individual who 
at divers times in his life practiced law, taught 
school, edited a newspaper, farmed, and inter- 
ested himself in politics — numbered among 
his accomplishments the ability to play a violin, 
and often the neighbors gathered at the house 
for a dance or social. At such times the merry- 
making ran high, and it is even told that the 
dignified old Governor himself once added to 
the merriment of the occasion by dancing a jig 
with a neighbor until the shortness of his wind 
compelled him to desist. Sometimes friends 
came out from town to visit the young people. 
Associates of the Governor were often enter- 
tained, and occasionally his red skinned friends 
of the plains paid him the honor of a call. 



XIII 

State Government and Boundaries 

In April, 1844, at the township election, a vote 
was taken in accordance with the act of the 
Legislative Assembly, which resulted at last in 
a large majority in favor of a State Constitu- 
tional Convention. The election of delegates 
followed in August after a partisan campaign, 
and less than one-third of the seventy-three suc- 
cessful candidates were of the Whig party. 

In October, in the stone Capitol at Iowa City, 
the first Constitutional Convention of Iowa met 
and framed a fundamental law. 292 As a nat- 
ural consequence of the political make-up of the 
constituent assembly the constitution which re- 
sulted from their deliberations was a somewhat 
partisan instrument. From the Convention the 
new constitution passed to two fields of discus- 
sion — the people of the Territory and the 
Congress of the United States. 

Meanwhile a Presidential campaign was stir- 
ring the country. The possibility of early 
Statehood seems to have inspirited both Demo- 

143 



144 JOHN CHAMBERS 

crats and Whigs in the Territory, and the re- 
spective admirers of James K. Polk and Henry 
Clay held enthusiastic meetings and promul- 
gated lengthy and ardent resolutions. In July 
a convention of Whig delegates from the vari- 
ous townships of Des Moines County met at 
Burlington with Joseph Sprigg Chambers as 
chairman. 293 At the same time a big mass meet- 
ing was held attended by Whigs from all over 
the Territory and by some from Illinois. The 
meetings of the latter were held out of doors, 
and speeches were delivered to a crowd of over 
two thousand. The banners, the mottoes, and 
the songs that had made famous the campaign 
of 1840 reappeared in profusion, and one en- 
thusiastic delegation came marching up the 
streets of Burlington bearing aloft a tree in 
which was perched a live coon. 

During the progress of the speaking Gover- 
nor Chambers was seen upon the grounds and 
was loudly called for to address the crowd. He 
came forward and said that he must be excused 
from making a political speech. He had made 
it a matter of principle not to meddle with the 
political excitement of the day as long as he 
held an office under the United States govern- 
ment. However, he would, with their permis- 
sion, take advantage of the opportunity to say 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 145 

that his official position as Governor would 
cease within forty-eight hours. Information 
was reported to have reached Burlington on 
that same morning from St. Louis to the effect 
that a gentleman from that town had been ap- 
pointed as his successor. He assured them that 
he had endeavored to discharge the duties of 
his office without partiality or prejudice, and 
that in making appointments he had sought only 
for integrity and capacity. He did not doubt 
that he had often erred but asked them to re- 
member that forgiveness was an attribute of 
Deity which mortals were enjoined to imitate. 
He expressed his gratitude for the kindness 
with which his efforts to promote the interests 
of the Territory had been received. In closing 
he said that he had come to Iowa with the inten- 
tion of making the Territory his permanent 
place of residence, that he had bought a home 
and had found it surrounded by kind and excel- 
lent neighbors with whom he hoped to spend 
many pleasant hours. 294 

With regard to a change in the governorship, 
Chambers was mistaken. The rumor of a new 
appointment was without foundation; and so 
for more than a year longer the old Kentuckian 
administered the executive affairs of the Terri- 
tory of Iowa. But circumstances prevented the 

10 



146 JOHN CHAMBERS 

consummation of his desire to retain a perma- 
nent home in Iowa. His urgent efforts to induce 
other members of his family to migrate to the 
new West were unavailing. Three months later 
the four younger children had returned to Ken- 
tucky. In the Family Eecord is recorded the 
death of John James on September 30, 1844, at 
Paris, Kentucky. 295 Letters to John Chambers 
a little later mention Henry as slowly recover- 
ing from a severe illness, and Laura is spoken 
of as in perfect health again. 296 Whether or not 
sickness necessitated their return from the 
West can, in the absence of more specific evi- 
dence, only be conjectured; but their removal 
went far to prevent Chambers from making 
Iowa the home of his last days. Sprigg and his 
family remained with him until the close of his 
administration when they too went back to the 
familiar haunts of Mason County, Kentucky. 

The fall elections ended for a time the Whig 
control of national politics and determined the 
choice of James K. Polk as President of the 
United States. Just as the Whigs had, four 
years before, found a sudden interest in the ap- 
pointments of a new President, so now the 
Democrats of the Territory began to speculate 
and to lay their trains for the capture of Terri- 
torial offices. Ex-Governor Eobert Lucas was 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 147 

mentioned as a candidate for the governorship, 
but the consensus of Democratic hopes seemed 
to renter upon Judge Joseph Williams. 

On January 8, 1845, twenty-three men, mem- 
bers of the bar of the Supreme Court and other 
citizens of the Territory, addressed a petition 
to President-elect Polk, asking that Joseph Wil- 
liams be appointed Governor and protesting 
against the practice of "thrusting upon us 
strangers & non-residents as our officer s." 29T 
The petition was not a partisan paper for it 
was signed by as stanch a Whig as James W. 
Grimes. But it was of course impossible for 
Polk to make any change until the fourth of 
March; and, indeed, it was many months after 
the inauguration before the new incumbent saw 
tit to remove John Chambers. 

The Missouri boundary dispute meantime 
was still far from being settled. In May of 
1842 Garrett Davis of Kentucky, who had suc- 
ceeded John Chambers as Representative in 
Congress from the Twelfth District of the State 
of Kentucky, made a report as chairman of the 
Committee on Territories relative to the dis- 
puted line and accompanied it by a bill declar- 
ing the Sullivan or Indian Boundary Line the 
proper division between the State of Missouri 
and the Territorv of Iowa. 



148 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Delegate Augustus Caesar Dodge of the Ter- 
ritory of Iowa at once entered upon a vigorous 
support of the bill, and, ably seconded by Gar- 
rett Davis, succeeded in carrying it through 
the House in spite of the earnest opposition of 
John C. Edwards, Eepresentative from Mis- 
souri. 298 In the Senate, however, with no one 
to wage battle in its behalf, the bill was lost. 
For two years the matter lay untouched by 
Congress. Finally on June 27, 1844, an act was 
approved which provided for the determination 
of the boundary by a commission consisting of 
three members. The Governor of Missouri was 
to appoint one member, the Governor of Iowa 
a second, and these two commissioners were to 
select the third member. 299 The act, however, 
included the fatal proviso that it should not 
take force unless sanctioned by the State of Mis- 
souri. A bill assenting to the act was passed 
by the legislature of that State, but received the 
veto of John C. Edwards who had now become 
Governor. So the Congressional legislation 
came to naught and the boundary affair was as 
far from settlement as at the beginning of the 
administration of John Chambers. 

Down on the border line the unsettled con- 
dition of affairs led to no little trouble. The 
county of Adair in Missouri and the county of 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 149 

Davis in Iowa overlapped so as to include a 
tract of land claimed by both authorities. Early 
in the year 1845 the Sheriff of Adair County was 
arrested by Iowa authorities for exercising the 
duties of his office without legal authority in 
the bounds of Davis County. The Deputy Sher- 
iff of Adair County was also arrested and 
charged with having seized in Davis County and 
falsely imprisoned Frederick Acheson, a citizen 
of the Territory of Iowa. The Davis County Dis- 
trict Court tried William P. Linder, the Deputy 
Sheriff, and sentenced him to a fine and ten 
days' imprisonment in the penitentiary. The 
trial of the Sheriff, Preston Mullinix, was con- 
tinued to the next term of court, and upon his 
refusal to give his individual recognizance for 
his appearance he was also committed to prison. 
At this stage of the proceedings Governor 
Chambers learned of the trouble. Without 
further ado he pardoned both Linder and Mul- 
linix and set them at liberty. He then wrote 
to Governor Edwards of Missouri, expressing 
his regret at the conflict of jurisdiction which 
occasioned these prosecutions. He reiterated 
his position that the Territory had no power to 
adjust the dispute or to enter into any agree- 
ment for a judicial settlement. He therefore 
urged the Missouri authorities to petition Con- 



150 JOHN CHAMBERS 

gress for permission to litigate the matter 
either with the Territory or directly with the 
United States. He also intimated that the 
authorities of the Territory were bound to 
maintain jurisdiction over the limits assigned 
to them by the Federal government or be con- 
sidered unfaithful to their trust. He casually 
remarked that he had hoped there would be an 
amicable and speedy adjustment of the dispute 
resulting from the Congressional act of the pre- 
ceding year providing for a boundary commis- 
sion, but since that solution had been rendered 
impossible by the veto of the bill giving Mis- 
souri's consent, he took the liberty of proposing 
the other mode of adjustment. 300 

The attitude of John Chambers on the bound- 
ary question was eminently wise. He was not 
less tenacious of the rights of the Territory 
than was his predecessor; nor was he more in- 
clined to yield without authorization from the 
United States government an inch of the terri- 
tory which had been assigned to the Common- 
wealth under his control. To be sure the con- 
ditions were now entirely different from those 
which confronted Governor Lucas in the winter 
of 1839. Then the crisis on the border called 
for immediate and decisive action. Since that 
time the matter had been taken up by Congress 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 151 

and the excitement on the line had largely sub- 
sided in the prospect of a settlement of the 
question by Federal authorities. Although de- 
lay in Congressional action had led to occasional 
recurrence of the difficulties as in the case of 
Mullinix and Linder, yet it was to the advan- 
tage of all parties to conciliate the border neigh- 
bors and prevent disturbances and conflicts of 
authority until an adjustment could be secured. 

Governor Chambers's pardon of the two of- 
fending officers was not only a politic but a most 
just and reasonable action — since individually 
the men were only performing what appeared 
to them to be the duties of their office, and as 
far as the dispute was concerned nothing could 
be gained by stirring up questions which it was 
out of the power of the State and the Territory 
by and between themselves to settle. 

The judicial aspects of the dispute were more 
clearly seen by Chambers than by the Missouri 
Governors. As a Territory, Iowa could not 
constitutionally be a party to a suit, and an at- 
tempt at such procedure would only have tend- 
ed to make confusion worse confounded. In the 
course of two years more Iowa became a State 
and was in a position to sustain the relation of 
a party in a suit before the United States Su- 
preme Court. But now the only solution of 



152 JOHN CHAMBERS 

the difficulty lay in preserving border matters 
in a state of truce until Congress could be pre- 
vailed upon to take action. 

Particularly was it desirable to avoid trouble 
over boundaries in view of the fact that Iowa 
was suing for admission to the Union. The 
Constitution which had been drawn up in Oc- 
tober, 1844, was put into the hands of Dele- 
gate Dodge to present to Congress when it con- 
vened in December. Meanwhile it formed the 
basis of editorial comment and extended public 
and private discussion. It was a Democratic 
instrument, but it was not enthusiastically re- 
ceived even by all the Democrats; and it was 
universally denounced by the Whigs. Governor 
Chambers, though he had been and still was in 
favor of State government, could not reconcile 
himself to the provisions of the instrument. He 
was opposed to an elective judiciary, and he as 
strongly objected to the restrictions upon bank- 
ing and other corporations. 

In Congress the Constitution of 1844 was 
carefully considered, and an enabling act was 
drawn up providing for the admission of Iowa 
with that instrument as a fundamental law. 
But in framing this act Congress stipulated 
other boundaries than those proposed by the 
Convention. The Constitution as it came from 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 153 

the Convention provided what were known as 
the Lucas Boundaries, by which the State was 
to extend from the Mississippi to the Missouri 
Eiver. The act of Congress designated the 
Nicollet Boundaries, with a western limit some 
distance east of the Missouri Eiver. 301 

On March 3, 1845, the act of Congress was 
approved, and the news of the provision con- 
cerning boundaries reached the Territory a 
few weeks before the vote of the people was 
taken at the April election. It had instant ef- 
fect. Democrats who favored the instrument 
itself were unwilling to countenance any act by 
which the State was to be denied the Missouri 
Eiver as a western limit, and some even took 
the stump against its adoption. 302 On election 
day the Constitution was defeated by a con- 
siderable majority. 

In May, 1845, the Seventh Legislative As- 
sembly convened. A perplexing situation was 
before the legislators. The Constitution had 
been rejected by the people. Ordinarily that 
would have been the end of the matter, and 
further efforts towards Statehood would have 
been made, if at all, through a vote on a new 
constitutional convention. This procedure was 
recommended by Governor Chambers in his 
regular message on May 8. 303 But the peculiar 



154 JOHN CHAMBERS 

conditions in the case impelled the Democrats, 
who were still tenacious of their Constitution, 
to employ other tactics. They contended, and 
it was undoubtedly true, that a large influence 
in bringing about the defeat of the Constitu- 
tion was the fact that a considerable proportion 
of the people considered that in voting for the 
Constitution they would also be voting for the 
conditions named by Congress, including the 
change of boundaries. Hence they wished to 
resubmit to the vote of the people the Consti- 
tution upon its own merits or defects and with- 
out consideration of Congressional conditions. 
Whether or not the vote in April did include 
both the Constitution and the Congressional 
conditions is perhaps an open question. The 
Constitution itself provided that it should be 
submitted to the people at the April election 
together with any conditions which might be 
made by Congress. 304 The enabling act of Con- 
gress, approved March 3, 1845, made it an es- 
sential condition of the admission of Iowa into 
the Union that so much of the act as applied to 
Iowa be assented to "by a majority of the 
qualified electors at their township elections, in 
the manner and at the time prescribed" in the 
Constitution itself. 305 Only upon the under- 
standing that these provisions contemplated 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 155 

separate ballots on Constitution and conditions 
could the people ratify the Constitution as 
drawn up and reject the Congressional condi- 
tions containing the obnoxious boundaries. But 
no separate ballot was provided, and a vast 
majority undoubtedly understood that the two 
questions were combined in a single vote. 

With either understanding as to how much 
was included in the vote, a new enabling act 
was necessitated by the result. For, if the vote 
only applied to the Constitution it was now too 
late to accept the Congressional conditions since 
the act declared it a " fundamental condition of 
the admission of said State' ' that they take 
such vote "at the time" prescribed for voting 
on the Constitution. If, on the other hand, the 
vote in April did include the Congressional con- 
ditions, it meant their rejection, and Congress 
must make a new enactment for their admission. 

In view of this condition, Chambers felt that 
the thing to do was to allow the people to vote 
on the calling of a new convention. But the 
Democratic legislature, making the most of the 
argument that the conditions in April had pre- 
vented a fair judgment on the Constitution, 
preferred to resubmit the original instrument 
to the vote of the people and run the chances 
of being able to persuade Congress to withdraw 



156 JOHN CHAMBERS 

from its position and pass a satisfactory en- 
abling act. So, disregarding the advice of 
Governor Chambers to let go the old Constitu- 
tion with the complications that adhered to it 
and take measures for the formation of a new 
body of law, the Legislative Assembly passed 
an act in May, 1845, to resubmit to the voters at 
the August election the Constitution of 1844 in 
the same form in which it came from the Con- 
vention. 306 

A minority of more than one third of the 
House of Representatives signed a formal pro- 
test against the act, claiming that the legisla- 
ture had no power to resubmit the question and 
maintaining that the Constitution had already 
been deliberately and with a clear understand- 
ing rejected at the polls, and protesting against 
a new vote on so faulty a document. 307 The act 
received the veto of Governor Chambers. Al- 
though he had not been and was not now op- 
posed to Statehood, nevertheless he looked upon 
the Constitution of 1844 as a bad instrument, 
and this probably greatly influenced his opposi- 
tion to its second appearance before the people. 
But he said nothing of his objections to the Con- 
stitution itself in his veto message. He admit- 
ted that the boundary question had exerted an 
influence upon the vote in April, and he ac- 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 157 

knowledged the right of the legislators to pro- 
vide for a resubmission. 

His message dealt largely with technical 
points in the situation. He pointed out certain 
respects in which the act would produce con- 
fusion and conflict of legislation between the 
act itself, the Constitution, and the act of Con- 
gress — if that were still in effect. He con- 
tended that at the April election separate bal- 
lots should have been used ; and he was opposed 
to the resubmission now of the Constitution 
without the provision for a separate vote at 
the same time on the conditions. The weakness 
of his position here was that admission could 
not be secured by ratifying the Constitution 
and rejecting the conditions, and if both were 
ratified the two votes would produce conflict — 
particularly with regard to boundaries. 

He pointed out the fact that the Constitution 
itself declared that the first general election 
should occur on the first Monday in August 
next after the adoption of the Constitution by 
the people, while the act which he was vetoing 
decreed that "no election of State officers shall 
be held under said Constitution, if ratified at 
said election, until after the admission of the 
State of Iowa is complete". Since admission 
would not be complete until an indefinite period 



158 JOHN CHAMBERS 

of time after ratification, this provision of the 
act really amounted to an alteration of the Con- 
stitution — a thing which Chambers declared to 
be outside the power of the Legislative Assem- 
bly. Other discrepancies were mentioned, and 
he withheld his approval believing that in the 
event of a successful vote on the Constitution 
the act would only result in confusion. 308 

It is interesting to note in connection with 
this message, an assertion made many years 
later by William Penn Clarke, a young Whig 
friend of the Governor who afterwards was 
somewhat prominent in the State. He states 
that Chambers, who was in ill health at this 
time, came to him on the day previous to the 
delivery of the message and said he was in 
great pain and could not write. He handed 
Clarke some notes upon the subject and asked 
him if he would put the matter in shape. Clarke 
consented and wrote out the message. The next 
morning Chambers read it over, signed it, and 
sent it to the legislature. 309 

Among the Democratic supporters of the 
Constitution of 1844, this veto produced intense 
indignation and criticism, and their majority 
in the legislature was sufficiently large to pass 
it over his official disapproval. So the much 
discussed document went once more to the polls, 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 159 

this time to be judged purely upon its own in- 
trinsic worth. The election occurred on August 
4, 1845, and although the majority in favor of 
its rejection was smaller than in April, yet the 
people of the Territory cast a sufficient number 
of votes to consign the Constitution of 1844 to 
the limbo of untried charters. 310 Thus the com- 
plications and the bickerings with Congress for 
a satisfactory enabling act, which would have 
resulted from the adoption of the Constitution, 
and the prospect of which Chambers had em- 
phasized in vetoing the bill for resubmission, 
were obviated only by the failure of the instru- 
ment to receive a majority vote. And through 
the channel which Chambers had advised — the 
calling of a new convention — Statehood was 
ultimately accomplished. 

In March of the year 1845 James K. Polk 
had come into possession of the White House; 
yet Chambers, although momentarily expect- 
ing dismissal, was undisturbed in his office. 
The expiration of the term of Augustus Caesar 
Dodge as Delegate to Congress from the Terri- 
tory brought on in the summer of this year a 
campaign in which John Chambers and Gen- 
eral James Wilson of Dubuque were promi- 
nently named by the Whigs as possible candi- 
dates to oppose Dodge for reelection. 311 But 



160 JOHN CHAMBEKS 

it seems to have been the general impression, 
and probably with truth, that neither of these 
gentlemen would consent to be a candidate. 
Chambers at least was physically ill-prepared 
for such a campaign. Ralph P. Lowe, after- 
wards Governor of the State, was chosen as the 
candidate of the Whigs and conducted a some- 
what vigorous campaign, but he was defeated 
by Dodge at the election in August. 312 

Back in Kentucky the old friends of Cham- 
bers marvelled as month after month he re- 
tained his office. Some even came to the con- 
clusion that he had turned Democrat; 313 but 
no such thought was entertained by those who 
knew him well. Indeed, if there was any part 
of his administration in which his Whig poli- 
tics entered into his performance of duties it 
was at the time of his veto of the act for resub- 
mission of the Constitution, two months after 
the change of administration. 

In November, 1845, James Clarke, a Demo- 
cratic editor of Burlington who had been Sec- 
retary of the Territory under Governor Lucas, 
was appointed to succeed Chambers as Gover- 
nor. 314 

It was well that the busy cares of the gover- 
norship were taken from the shoulders of John 
Chambers for his health was suffering greatly. 



GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES 161 

On October 29, he wrote to William Perm 
Clarke : — " Since I saw you I have been on the 
confines of eternity, and am so much reduced 
that .... you would scarcely know me. 
Yet under all this suffering, I have performed 
my every official duty promptly, sometimes ly- 
ing flat on my back, dictating to my private sec- 
retary, and again scrawling illegibly for him to 
copy." He betook himself to the farm at 
Grouseland, making trips to town two or three 
times a week to transact business. "You 
would be amused", he wrote, "to see me feed- 
ing the pigs, turkeys, etc., and the efforts I 
make to work." 315 Chambers was at a loss to 
understand his retention in office by Polk; and 
after waiting in vain for a promise of leave of 
absence from the duties of Indian Affairs, he 
finally determined that his health necessitated 
his going to Kentucky in November whether 
removed from office or not. 316 So he left his 
office for his first vacation in three years and 
visited once more the town of Washington, Ken- 
tucky. During his absence the new Governor 
took office and the active political life of John 
Chambers was at an end. 317 



11 



XIV 

Indian Affairs 

It was a vast Territory that lay subject to the 
supervision of John Chambers in 1841. Besides 
the land that now constitutes the State of Iowa 
it comprised the eastern half of the present 
States of North and South Dakota and the 
larger portion of what is now Minnesota. Only 
the eastern fringe was then settled by whites. 
On the broad prairies to the west and north 
the Indian tribes fished and hunted, waged war 
and drank themselves into degeneracy upon 
the white man's whiskey. 318 It was now a sadly 
depleted race that clung forlornly to the fast 
receding edge of the frontier. 

In the days of their fathers the fair lands 
that lay between the two great rivers in the 
heart of the continent had been the meeting 
ground of many tribes. From the east along 
the Great Lakes and the Ohio came the various 
tribes of the powerful Algonquin family — a 
nomadic migration differing from the later 
movement of the whites in that it left no broad- 

162 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 163 

scarred trail in its wake. The moccasined foot 
of the Indian scarcely stirred the dead leaves 
upon the ground where the plow shares of the 
white man, coming after, turned acres of grass 
roots to the sun. The virgin plains where they 
hunted the buffalo and the forests through 
whose quiet recesses they slipped noiselessly in 
search of game, they left as unchanged as the 
streams whose waters stilled themselves after 
the silent dip of the paddle or the swift spear 
thrust of the red-skinned fisher. 

On the banks of these same streams there 
went up often the hideous war cry. For the 
Algonquins from the East did not alone covet 
the watered plains of the Mississippi Valley. 
From the West and Northwest, down the broad 
valleys of the Platte and the Missouri, came the 
tribes of another great family of Indians — the 
warlike Dakotahs. Among them were numbered 
the Sioux, the Ioways, the Otoes, the Omahas, 
and the Winnebagoes. In the valley of the 
upper Mississippi these people for succeeding 
generations waged bloody wars with the Sacs 
and Foxes, the Pottawattamies and other Al- 
gonquin tribes. 

Of all these Indians the Sacs and Foxes made 
the greatest impress upon the history of Iowa 
so far as that historv concerns the white man. 



164 JOHN CHAMBERS 

They came from the vicinity of the Great Lakes, 
and before reaching the Mississippi had formed 
a close alliance. Upon the Mississippi and 
Des Moines rivers they found the powerful 
Ioways and subjugated them. Turning to the 
north they came upon the Sioux whom they en- 
gaged in ceaseless and bitter strife. These con- 
tests became so furious that in 1825 the United 
States government negotiated a treaty by which 
a boundary line was placed between the com- 
batants. 319 It began where the Upper Iowa 
Eiver empties into the Mississippi and proceed- 
ing along river channels and across prairies 
ended at the juncture of the Big Sioux and 
Missouri rivers. North of this line the Sioux 
were to remain, and south of it the Sacs and 
Foxes. Five years later it became necessary to 
set up on either side of this line a neutral strip 
twenty miles in width. 320 To this Neutral 
Ground some years afterward, the Winneba- 
goes from east of the Mississippi reluctantly 
agreed to remove. 321 

The principal town of the Sacs in the early 
days was on the east side of the Mississippi 
near the mouth of the Bock Eiver. Here lived 
the warlike Black Hawk; and when in accord- 
ance with treaty agreements, which Black Hawk 
claimed were not valid, the United States gov- 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 165 

ernment demanded the removal of the Indians 
from the east to the west side of the river he 
demurred. Keokuk, one of the prominent chiefs 
of the Sacs, located on the Iowa River and tried 
to persuade Black Hawk and his men to join 
him. Black Hawk, however, looked upon such 
withdrawal as cowardice, and he clung to his 
ancient haunts until he was surrounded by white 
settlers. Finally he was persuaded by troops to 
move across the river, but in 1832 he returned 
and the contest known as the Black Hawk War 
was precipitated. 322 

The warring Indians in that contest com- 
prised a large portion of the Sacs and Foxes, re- 
enforced by several hundred Winnebagoes. 
Many of the Sacs and Foxes restrained by the 
influence of Keokuk, remained quietly at home 
on the banks of the Iowa River in spite of the 
reproaches and taunts of the followers of Black 
Hawk. In a few short months the Indians were 
vanquished with the result that the confedera- 
ted tribes of Sac and Fox Indians were com- 
pelled to cede to the United States government 
a strip of land extending about fifty miles west 
from the Mississippi River, with a reservation 
along the Iowa River for the benefit of 
Keokuk. 323 

Upon the land vacated by this treaty of Sep- 



166 JOHN CHAMBERS 

tember 12, 1832, there began the first legal 
white settlement of what is now Iowa. The 
defeated Black Hawk was supplanted in tribal 
leadership by the more peaceful Keokuk. After 
a somewhat neglected old age the old warrior 
died, but his sons and his followers nursed an 
increasing bitterness against Keokuk and his 
administration. 324 In 1836 Keokuk's reserva- 
tion on the Iowa Eiver was given up, 325 and in 
the following year an additional slice of terri- 
tory west of the Black Hawk Purchase was 
ceded to the United States. 326 The Sacs and 
Foxes moved westward and settled upon the 
Des Moines River and here we find them when, 
in 1838, the Territory of Iowa was organized. 
There were, during the Territorial period, 
two principal Indian agencies within the limits 
of Iowa. One was the Sac and Fox Agency on 
the site of the present town of Agency City in 
Wapello County. Here General Joseph M. 
Street 327 was Agent until his death in 1840, 
when he was succeeded by his son-in-law, John 
Beach. The other was the Sioux Agency on the 
St. Peters River (now the Minnesota) near its 
juncture with the Mississippi. The Indian 
Agent at this place during the first years of 
the Territory was Major Lawrence Talia- 
ferro, 328 who having resigned was followed in 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 167 

1840 by Amos J. Bruce. Besides these posts 
there was a sub-agency near Council Bluffs 
where the Pottawattamies were located; 329 and 
about 1840 there seems to have been a sub- 
agency founded on the headwaters of Turkey 
River, for the benefit of the Winnebagoes who 
had moved to the Neutral Ground. 330 

With each agency there were trading posts, 
and no treatment of Indian affairs would be 
complete or understandable without a consid- 
eration of these licensed trading companies. 
For through the sale of goods to the Indians 
they gained an ascendancy over the red inhab- 
itants that materially affected every attempt at 
negotiation between the United States govern- 
ment and the Indian tribes. 

Three important establishments were con- 
nected with the Sac and Fox Agency. Pierre 
Chouteau Jr. and Company, of St. Louis, 331 
a well known agency of the American Fur Com- 
pany, was represented at various times by 
Chouteau's son-in-law, Major Sandford, by 
William Phelps, and by the latter 's brother, S. 
S. Phelps. Another firm was that of W. G. and 
G. W. Ewing who had removed to the Territory 
from a profitable trade in Indiana. 332 Both of 
these posts were on the site of the present town 
of Ottumwa. A third concern was operated by 



168 JOHN CHAMBERS 

J. P. Eddy who, having been licensed in 1840, 
located a trading post a few miles up the river 
at a point where the town of Eddyville now 
stands. 333 

These traders imported to the Indian country 
goods of all descriptions and sold them, as a 
rule, upon credit. When the time came each 
year for the payment of annuities the companies 
were the creditors of the Indians to the extent 
of thousand of dollars, and their representatives 
were generally present at every such occurrence 
to engulf the larger proportion of the payment 
and to secure an early chance at the sum which 
remained. 

When Governor Lucas came into office six 
years had elapsed since the close of the Black 
Hawk War. Black Hawk himself was dead, 
but the factional spirit among the Sacs and 
Foxes was as strong as ever. The followers of 
the departed warrior rallied about his sons and 
a chief named Hardfish, and bitter was the an- 
tipathy between the band of Hardfish and the 
band of Keokuk. Particularly in the payment 
of government annuities was trouble wont to 
rise. It had been the custom to pay the amounts 
due the Indians to Keokuk and the more promi- 
nent chiefs; and upon them devolved the set- 
tling of debts to traders and the further distri- 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 169 

bution of the remainder among the members of 
the two tribes. 

Keokuk seems to have numbered among his 
weaknesses a fondness for money; and it was 
perhaps not without reason that Hardfish and 
his followers charged him with fraud and col- 
lusion with the traders. In January, 1840, about 
fifty Indians of Hardfish's band came to Bur- 
lington for a council with Governor Lucas. 334 
They protested that they did not know what be- 
came of the annuities paid to the " money 
chief s" — as they called Keokuk, Wapello, 
Appanoose, Poweshiek, and the others to whom 
payments were made — and they urged that 
the money be paid directly to the heads of 
families. They appear to have even sought to 
renounce Keokuk as chief and to adhere only to 
the chiefs of their own band. Lucas tried to 
pacify them and told them that they must set- 
tle the matter of their chiefs and the payment 
of annuities among themselves. It is evident 
throughout the administration of Governor Lu- 
cas that his sympathies were with the band led 
by Hardfish. 

During the months that followed lines grew 
tighter between the two divisions. Each band 
held councils, and two papers were drawn up 
and signed — one by the Indians of the upper 



170 JOHN CHAMBERS 

village favoring payment to the heads of fami- 
lies, and one by Keokuk's band urging the dis- 
tribution of annuities to the chiefs as before. 335 

Early in the summer of 1840 General Street, 
who had made a most excellent record as Indian 
Agent, died and was succeeded by John Beach. 
In July, at the extra session, the Legislative 
Assembly passed a memorial asking that the 
payments be made to the heads of families or 
to persons designated by the majority of the 
nation, but before it reached Washington, an 
order had been issued under date of August 18, 
1840, directing that the payments be made to 
the chiefs. 336 

The council for the payment of the annuities 
for 1840 occurred at the Sac and Fox Agency 
House on September 28th. Governor Lucas at- 
tended in person and found the traders of the 
American Fur Company in abundant evidence. 
From St. Louis, Pierre Chouteau Jr., himself, 
and Messrs. Sandford and Mitchell were in at- 
tendance. The two Davenports and Antoine 
LeClaire from near Eock Island, S. S. Phelps of 
Oquawka, Illinois, and his brother William 
Phelps of the Indian Agency were all there to 
watch carefully the trading interests. 337 The 
council was not a happy one. The Indians re- 
fused to come to a reconciliation, and Beach 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 171 

finally reported that no agreement could be 
made with the two parties as to the method of 
receiving and distributing annuities ; indeed, he 
favored sending away the money, which was in 
paper, to be returned later in specie when the 
Indians should have become reconciled. 338 

Thus the outcome was that the payment was 
deferred. Lucas fully believed that Beach was 
acting in conjunction with the American Fur 
Company, and when his later attempts to have 
the Agent make the payment proved futile, he 
recommended his removal from the Agency. 339 
Beach on the other hand wrote to the Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs at Washington, stating 
his reasons for non-payment and complaining 
that Lucas had been pursuing a course which 
tended to destroy the official influence of the 
Agent with the Sac and Fox Indians and to 
sow discord among them. 340 In the midst of 
this deadlock Governor Chambers came into of- 
fice as Superintendent of Indian Affairs. 

Five days after his arrival at Burlington, 
Chambers wrote to John Bell, Secretary of 
War, in regard to Indian matters. 341 He had as 
yet been able to gather very little information 
concerning the status of these negotiations be- 
cause of the absence of his predecessor; but 
from an examination of copies of a correspond- 



172 JOHN CHAMBERS 

ence between Captain Beach and Major Pilcher 
(the Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. 
Louis) relating to the suspended payment of 
annuities, he inclined to the belief that they 
should be paid to the heads of families. At all 
events he expressed the hope that, in view of 
rumors of an agreement among the Indians, the 
order suspending payment might be immediate- 
ly withdrawn. 

A week later he wrote at some length to T. 
Hartley Crawford, United States Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs. 342 He had now received word 
from Beach in explanation of the dissensions 
among the Indians. He appears to have differed 
from Beach in attitude toward the opposing 
chiefs. He commented upon the fact that Keo- 
kuk had become intemperate and had lost the 
confidence of a considerable majority of the 
Indians, and he expressed the belief that Hard- 
fish had been sincere in desiring to bring about 
an equitable distribution of the annuities. How- 
ever, he believed that it was not necessary that 
the government or its officers take the part of 
either division, and that the Indians would prob- 
ably now agree that each party should receive 
a just proportion in the manner that it saw fit. 

It was about the middle of June that Gover- 
nor Chambers hired a carriage and drove across 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 173 

country for his first visit to the Indians on the 
Des Moines Biver. 343 He made the acquaintance 
of his red skinned wards and of the Indian 
agent. Doubtless they sat down at the Agency 
House and discussed at length the dissensions 
among the Indians and payment of their long 
delayed dues. In July, Beach wrote him a let- 
ter full of good news. 344 On the twenty-third 
of the month, the chiefs and warriors of both 
parties had come together at the Agency House. 
In solemn conclave the chiefs tried to make some 
arrangement for a division of the money but 
in vain. Then the aged Pashepaho, second in 
rank to Hardfish, conceived a plan. He pro- 
posed, since the chiefs could not agree, to leave 
it to the braves and abide by their decision. So 
the braves withdrew and argued the matter, but 
returned with the statement that the followers 
of Hardfish wanted eighteen thousand dollars 
while Keokuk's braves would not agree to give 
more than fourteen thousand dollars. "Where- 
upon Agent Beach who, fortunately for the oc- 
casion, had been born in Massachusetts, sug- 
gested the Yankee expediency of splitting the 
difference. So it was agreed that out of the 
entire sum due, which amounted to something 
over forty thousand dollars, the band of Hard- 
fish should receive sixteen thousand while the 



174 JOHN CHAMBERS 

remainder should go to Keokuk and his follow- 
ers at the lower village. The opposing chiefs 
then shook hands and signed the agreement. 
Hardfish was absent because of sickness but 
among the signatures were those of his brother, 
of Pashepaho, and of the two sons of Black 
Hawk. 

Thus the Indians had removed the greatest 
obstacle to the payment of their dues. Cham- 
bers at once wrote to Washington urging that 
the government immediately make arrange- 
ments for the settlement of the affair. He re- 
ceived before long instructions to combine the 
payment of the annuities of both 1840 and 1841 
in one negotiation and was further informed 
that T. Hartley Crawford and Governor J. D. 
Doty of Wisconsin had been appointed to act 
with him as commissioners to arrange with the 
Sacs and Foxes for a cession of their land. 345 

Chambers made arrangements for the pres- 
ence of a military force at the Agency to pre- 
vent intrusion upon the Indian lands and to 
preserve order during the negotiations. He 
also provided for the exclusion of white traders 
and others from the council in order to get the 
unbiased assent of the Indians. The assembly 
of Commissioners and Indians occurred in Oc- 
tober. The payment of the annuities was made 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 175 

— first $41,000 for the year 1840, paid accord- 
ing to the agreement of July ; and an equal sum 
for the year 1841, paid to the heads of fami- 
lies. 346 Then they proceeded to negotiate for 
the sale of land. 347 Mr. Crawford, United 
States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, made 
the proposal that they cede to the government 
all the lands claimed by them within the Terri- 
tory of Iowa. In return the government would 
give them one million dollars and money enough 
to pay their debts, would locate them on lands 
at the headwaters of the Des Moines Eiver and 
west of the Blue Earth River, and would build 
for them there, out of the million dollars, a 
large council house, mills, blacksmith shops, 
school-houses, and a house for each family. 

Chambers followed, approving what had been 
said and warning the Indians against the extor- 
tions of the traders and against the unscrupu- 
lous whiskey sellers who infested the border 
line. The Indians listened quietly then coun- 
selled together. They asked for further ex- 
planation of the terms and finally with one ac- 
cord began to find fault with the proposed 
location to the northward. It was poor land — 
they could not subsist there, and they did not 
want to leave anyway. Keokuk had never heard 
so hard a proposal: the new location was no 



176 JOHN CHAMBERS 

good; and, moreover, he had always been op- 
posed to school-houses. 

Thus ended an unfruitful negotiation. The 
receipt of double annuities was followed by a 
debauch such as the Indians had never known 
before. A small portion of their debts were 
paid, but the two past years had plunged them 
into obligations amounting to nearly half a mil- 
lion dollars and with their annuities gone and 
the cloud of debt still hovering over them they 
soon were in as destitute a condition as before. 

By this time Governor Chambers had seen 
enough of the Indians to realize some of the 
evils practiced upon them by the whites. Two 
things in particular impressed him with the 
need of reform. One was the sale of liquor to 
the Indians by white men along the border line. 
The other object of his denunciation was the 
system by which private trading companies, 
licensed by the government, sold to the child- 
like natives at enormous profits goods often 
useless to them, and by reason of their intimate 
relationship acquired a power over the Indians 
that was frequently used to circumvent the 
plans of the government which had licensed 
them. 

Chambers returned to Burlington after the 
failure to consummate the treaty in 1841 great- 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 177 

ly disappointed. To the Commissioner at 
Washington he penned an emphatic arraign- 
ment of the system of Indian trade and inter- 
course. 348 He urged that the practice of issu- 
ing licenses to traders be abolished, and that 
government agents be appointed to supply the 
Indians with goods at a reasonable price. 

The regulation of trade was a matter for the 
Federal government to remedy; but the sup- 
pression of the illegitimate sale of whiskey 
could be reached by Territorial action, and 
when the legislative Assembly met in December 
1841 the Governor depicted to the lawmakers 
the degradation and destruction that the in- 
famous practice was producing among a people 
whose indolent habits and aversion to labor 
made them peculiarly fond of artificial excite- 
ment. ' ' Humanity shudders and religion weeps 
over the cruel and unrelenting destruction of a 
people so interesting, by means so dastardly 
and brutal, that the use of the rifle and the 
sword, even in time of profound peace with 
them, would be comparatively merciful. ' ' 349 
But his recommendations for an amendment 
making efficient the existing laws on the sub- 
ject fell upon stony ground. 

Among the Indian villages in the winter of 
1841-42, debt and poverty were working a 
12 



178 JOHN CHAMBERS 

change of heart. One day in February, Keo- 
kuk, Appanoose, and Wapello came to the 
Agency House and told Captain Beach that 
they desired to cede a part of their land and so 
pay off their debts. 350 They added that it would 
please them to be invited to Washington to see 
the Great Father and there have a treaty coun- 
cil. And the next day Hardfish came also to 
the Agent and expressed his concurrence with 
the plan. Chambers reported the incident to 
Commissioner Crawford. 351 He thought the 
plan was instigated by the traders to get the 
money paid at Washington, and he remarked 
that they had been stirring up feeling against 
him. Evidently by his exclusion of the traders 
from the late negotiations, the new Governor 
had not ingratiated himself with these captains 
of commerce. It seemed not improbable to 
Chambers, moreover, that the Indians would 
not only cede a part but all of their land in 
Iowa, providing they were sent to the Missouri 
River with the friendly Pottawattamies. 

In May, after returning from a visit to Ken- 
tucky, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs re- 
ported to Commissioner Crawford a statement 
of the debts due to the three licensed trading 
companies from the Sac and Fox Indians. 352 
Altogether the amount was over two hundred 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 179 

thousand dollars. It is scarcely to be wondered 
at that the Indians contemplated a sale of their 
lands. During the summer of 1842 the Indian 
border line was a scene of turbulence. The In- 
dians were restless; whites expelled from the 
red men's country were vindictive. The whiskey 
sellers were active and their increasing num- 
bers contained many desperadoes of the most 
dangerous type. An old trading house, aban- 
doned by Pierre Chouteau Jr. and Company, 
was burned to the ground. The Agent and the 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs were shot in 
effigy, and one Smith, a troublesome fellow who 
had been christened Jeremiah by his unprophet- 
ic parents, gathered a band of the Indians and 
clandestinely took them off to exhibit through 
the country. 353 

Early in September Chambers paid a visit 
to the Indian country to arrange for the pay- 
ment of annuities which was made in that 
month. 354 Upon his return to Burlington he 
found waiting for him instructions from the 
United States government to enter into nego- 
tiations with the Sacs and Foxes and with the 
Winnebago Indians. The Winnebagoes on the 
neutral strip were a vexing remnant. Cham- 
bers was not hopeful about them. They haunt- 
ed the Mississippi River in spite of efforts to 



180 JOHN CHAMBEKS 

keep them inland, and such close proximity to 
the whites and the ubiquitous whiskey jug 
wrought constant degradation to the rapidly 
thinning band. Chambers saw no possibility 
of treating with them that fall for they could 
not be moved to the Sioux country without the 
consent of the Sioux, and they refused to move 
southwest. He promised, however, to commu- 
nicate with Agent Bruce at St. Peters and try 
to get the consent of the Sioux to receive the 
Winnebagoes upon their land. 355 

But a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes was a 
different matter. Here there was both the ne- 
cessity and the possibility of immediate action, 
and the Superintendent of Indian Affairs be- 
gan at once to make arrangements. While the 
time was ripe for such a step, there yet were 
many difficulties to be overcome. An eager 
white population, impatient and almost impos- 
sible of restraint, infested the border line, 
ready to swoop across and take up the new land 
upon the instant of a treaty's consummation. 
At his September visit to the Agency, Chambers 
had found hundreds of these landseekers. They 
came in wagons, on horse back, and afoot — all 
determined to believe that a treaty would be 
made and ready to drive stakes into the choicest 
bits of land. Some were peaceable, and made no 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 181 

disturbance; some were drunk, threatened the 
Agent, the dragoons, and the Governor, and 
created so many kinds of disturbance that they 
must needs be placed under guard. 350 So now 
Governor Chambers asked that a full company 
of dragoons be detailed from Fort Atkinson to 
proceed to the Indian country for the preserva- 
tion of order. 357 

Another essential to the success of the nego- 
tiation was an examination of the claims of the 
trading companies and other creditors of the 
Indians. These claims had been carefully kept 
in readiness for an occasion just such as this 
when the debtors would come into possession 
of a large amount of money. Chambers deter- 
mined that the Indians' interests should be 
preserved in this matter and so proposed to 
make a thorough investigation of all demands. 
For this purpose he appointed Alfred Hebard 
and Arthur Bridgman as special agents with 
instructions to accompany him to the Agency 
before the close of September and begin a scru- 
tinizing investigation and adjustment of claims. 
He directed Beach to assemble the chiefs in 
order that the Indians might have an opportu- 
nity for objection. 

The process of sifting out the just claims and 
arriving at a fair schedule of the Sac and Fox 



182 JOHN CHAMBERS 

indebtedness was a laborious one. The number 
of claims presented was fifty-eight and they 
amounted in all to $312,366.24. The agents 
heard the testimony of traders and Indians, 
weighed the evidence, and reduced the total to 
$258,566.34. The claim of J. P. Eddy and Com- 
pany they allowed in its entirety, and they were 
lenient with the demands of Pierre Chouteau 
Jr. and Company. 

The amount allowed to W. Gr. and GL W. Ew- 
ing was about twenty-five per cent less than 
they had demanded. They had sold the untu- 
tored native such useful objects as " Italian 
cravats", "sattinette coats", and " looking 
glasses" charged at twenty- two and thirty dol- 
lars. A clerk informed the investigating com- 
mission that these last articles should have been 
styled "telescopes". They had found purchas- 
ers among the red men for "fine satin vests" 
at eight dollars and fine spotted ones for six 
and seven. They had charged forty-five dol- 
lars for "dress coats" and "superfine cloth 
coats" and sixty dollars for "surtout coats" 
and "super over coats". 358 Verily the white 
pioneer settler must have felt sadly tailored be- 
side his Indian neighbor. The profits upon 
some articles were estimated at from one to 
nine hundred per cent. 359 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 183 

The negotiation of the treaty itself began 
early in October. In the negotiations of the 
preceding fall, the power of the commissioners 
had been more or less limited to a definite pro- 
posal. In the present instance Chambers was 
given wide discretionary powers. A large cir- 
cular tent had been set up by Captain Beach for 
a council hall. Within was a raised platform 
at one side for the Commissioner and his aids 
while the chiefs sat opposite in a circular row 
of seats around the body of the tent. An open 
space lay between, and into this area the Indian 
orators stepped as they told of the beautiful 
lands the Great Spirit had given them. 360 They 
were arrayed in their best blankets, their finest 
feathers and their most showy trinkets. 

The Governor, having donned the uniform of 
an officer of the United States Army, opened 
the council by an address which the interpreter, 
Antoine LeClaire, translated to the waiting 
chiefs. Keokuk replied, and there followed 
much language. When all was said and the 
terms of sale were agreed upon the Sacs and 
Foxes had given up their entire claim to land 
in the Territory of Iowa. In return Governor 
Chambers, as Commissioner for the United 
States government, had agreed to pay the debts 
allowed by the investigating agents, and to pay 



184 JOHN CHAMBERS 

annually to the Indians the interest at five per 
cent on eight hundred thousand dollars. The 
Indians agreed to move, on or before May 1, 
1843, to lands west of a north and south line 
drawn through a certain point in the upper 
waters of the Eiver Des Moines. A final loca- 
tion was to be assigned them on the Missouri 
Eiver or its waters and to this spot they must 
move before the expiration of three years from 
the date of the treaty. 361 

On the eleventh of October, 1842, the agree- 
ment was made, signatures were affixed, and 
the council was over. It was an important 
treaty — the most important ever negotiated 
upon Iowa soil. It had been carefully planned 
and was negotiated with firmness and tact. 
Perhaps no event in the life of the Old Ken- 
tuckian is more worthy of attention. 

Experience with the Indians had greatly in- 
tensified the conviction of Chambers that they 
were being daily sinned against. When the 
Legislative Assembly met, he denounced again 
the sale of liquor to the Indians and begged 
the legislators to take measures to render ef- 
ficient the law prohibiting it. 362 This law. 
passed in 1839, provided for a fine, on convic- 
tion of such an offence, of from twenty-five to 
one hundred dollars; but the enormous profits 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 185 

in such traffic made the risk of conviction a 
trifling matter. The message of the Governor 
was taken under consideration and in January, 
1843, a law was passed increasing the penalty 
to not less than one hundred nor more than five 
hundred dollars. 303 It was a step in the right 
direction, but it was not such a bill as Chambers 
had hoped for. He had favored adding to the 
pecuniary infliction a term of imprisonment. 
The new law came to be disregarded as had the 
old, and the ruination of the Indian victims 
continued. 

On May 1, 1843, the Sacs and Foxes were to 
be west of their new boundary line and the 
tract they had occupied would be open to the 
whites; for, though the law decreed that sur- 
veys should be made first, it was not a point 
that was often insisted upon by the Federal 
officers. On the eve of May Day thousands of 
land seekers had gathered upon the border. 
The May time injunction ' ' call me early, mother 
dear" was hardly necessary, for it is doubtful 
if there was much sleep in those prairie camps 
that night. All up and down the division line 
watches and clocks ticked away steadily, and 
when their hands drew near the top of the dial 
torches were lit. At the hour of midnight, 
marked bj| the firing of guns, the eager pioneers 



186 JOHN CHAMBERS 

crossed the line and almost before the echo was 
stilled were driving stakes into the prairie by 
the light of flaring torches. 364 Thus did civili- 
zation crowd the heel of the departing red man. 
The Sacs and Foxes moved on to western Iowa 
for their brief sojourn, and when their allotted 
time was up the dwindling band gathered its 
ponies and camp outfits together and took their 
way to the lands southwest of the Missouri, ac- 
companied by a military escort provided by 
the United States government. 365 

Up in the northeast, meantime, the Winne- 
bagoes were causing trouble. In the summer of 
1841 Governor Doty of Wisconsin had negotia- 
ted with the Sioux Indians a treaty for the 
cession of a tract of land west of the Missis- 
sippi. 366 A primary object was to provide a 
location for the Winnebagoes, but it was also 
in contemplation to place other tribes upon 
the ceded portion. 367 The treaty was, however, 
rejected by the United States Senate. In the 
fall of 1842 Chambers received instructions to 
negotiate with the Winnebagoes for their re- 
moval from their haunts on the Neutral Ground. 
But the proposition did not appear to him feasi- 
ble, and it was deferred. In the summer of the 
next year he received similar instructions, and 
in July he entered into council with the Indians 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 187 

but without avail. 368 The tribe was fast giving 
way to intemperance; and encouraged by vi- 
cious and interested advisers among the whites 
they refused to remove from a place where 
whiskey was easy of access. Again in Novem- 
ber negotiations with this tribe by the United 
States government came to naught. 369 Cham- 
bers characterized them as "the most drunken, 
worthless and degraded tribe of which I have 
any knowledge". 370 It was not until October of 
1846 that the Winnebagoes agreed to give up 
their lands on the Neutral Ground and moved 
north of the St. Peters Eiver. 371 

The greatest factor in the degradation of 
these and of all other Indians was the white 
whiskey seller; and Chambers lost no opportu- 
nity of making this fact evident. In every regu- 
lar message of his administration he urged upon 
the legislators measures for the suppression of 
this evil, and in letter after letter to the United 
States government he deplored his inability to 
check its growth. 

Equally as consistent and determined was his 
opposition to the system of trade and inter- 
course with the Indians. A few months after 
the treaty of 1842 G. W. Ewing, a member of 
the trading company whose claims had been so 
open to criticism, wrote to Commissioner Craw- 



188 JOHN CHAMBERS 

ford complaining of the infamous practices of 
some of the unlicensed traders. Crawford sent 
the letter to Chambers, from whom he received 
a reply fiery with wrath. "If the vengeance of 
Heaven", he wrote, "is ever inflicted upon man 
in this life, it seems to me we must yet see some 
signal evidence of it among these ' regular trad- 
ers \ It would be worthy of the labours of a 
casuist to determine whether the wretch who 
sells a diseased or stolen horse to a poor Indian 
or the ' regular trader ' who sells him goods of 
no intrinsic value to him, at nine hundred per 
cent advance on the cost, is the greater rascal. 
It is deeply to be regret [t]ed that all your ef- 
forts to induce Congress to change the system 
have been unsuccessful." 372 

In his annual reports and in frequent letters 
to the Commissioner a change in the system 
was urged by Chambers. "Transfer to the 
Agents of the government the influence now, 
and long exercised over the Indians by the 
traders, and nothing but the employment of in- 
competent Agents can arrest an immediate and 
beneficial change in the destinies of the Indian 
race." This he wrote in September, 1843. 373 
The Legislative Assembly which met soon after 
passed a memorial praying Congress for a 
change in the system of trade and intercourse. 



INDIAN AFFAIRS 189 

Chambers sent the paper to Delegate Dodge 
with a long letter setting forth his ideas. Let 
the government establish depots of goods, he 
urged, at each agency and under the charge of 
governmental agents. Let the goods be sold 
to the Indians at an advance above the cost suf- 
ficient to cover all expenses — perhaps ten per 
cent. He had no doubt that the Indians would 
in this way receive double the accustomed quan- 
tity of serviceable goods for the same price as 
before, and would soon come to repose as much 
confidence in the government agents as they 
now did in the traders. 374 

The record of John Chambers as Superin- 
tendent of Indian Affairs is deserving of the 
greatest praise. He came upon the scene when 
both governmental officers and Indian chiefs 
were in a state of discord. He made himself 
conversant with the red population by repeated 
visits. He studied their needs and with unflag- 
ging zeal contended for their rights and inter- 
ests, even though it brought upon his head the 
harshest criticism from those whose iniquitous 
dealings he so fearlessly denounced. And it 
was by reason of his able management that 
there was secured to the United States a peace- 
ful possession of the greater part of what now 
constitutes the State of Iowa. 



XV 

The Years of Twilight 

In the first three years of the Territorial period 
storm and stress had characterized the admin- 
istration of Eobert Lucas. There had been 
heated tempers and strained relations, abuse 
and scathing reply. But when the stern first 
Governor left the office, the machinery of gov- 
ernment was carefully organized and working 
with a fair degree of efficiency. In the period 
that followed, the long term of the second Gov- 
ernor, the Territory moved on to larger things. 
Population grew by strides and stretched out 
toward the Missouri. Institutions sprang into 
being. The Territory sloughed off the pale 
wrappings of its infant days and busied itself 
with the idea of Statehood. Its growing civic 
consciousness planned fundamental laws and 
knocked at the door of Congress for admission. 
Its material expansion crowded the Indian over 
upon the trans-Missouri plains and peopled the 
interior. Then followed the last term of Terri- 
torial Governorship — the scant year under 

190 



THE YEARS OF TWILIGHT 191 

James Clarke. It was but a transition stage 
from the ripening Territory to the full fruition 
of Statehood. 

It was the opportunity of this long second 
term of progress that had come to Governor 
John Chambers. With an unflagging zeal that 
had marked his entire career he acted to the 
best of his strength and wisdom the double role 
of Governor and Superintendent of Indian Af- 
fairs until a Democratic President saw fit to re- 
move him. For the sake of his health the re- 
lease came none too soon. Ceaseless application 
to his official duties had told severely upon his 
strength and made rest a necessity. Early in 
November he quitted the town of Burlington 
and journeyed to his old home in Kentucky. He 
reached Maysville on Wednesday night, Novem- 
ber 19, 1845, 375 and soon was with his daughter 
Jane and her husband, J. S. Forman, who were 
now occupying the old home at Cedar Hill. 
From there he went inland to Paris to visit 
the Brents, but returned shortly after Christ- 
mas to Mason County. 

From Washington he wrote in the latter part 
of December to William Penn Clarke, thanking 
him for sending a copy of the message of Gov- 
ernor James Clarke, who had come into office 
in November as the successor of Chambers. 



192 JOHN CHAMBERS 

"My health is improving", he said, "and my 
flesh increasing, but I am still a good deal 
weaker than when in health. The prospect of 
a complete restoration is more favorable than I 
had hoped for, and I shall be with yon early in 
the spring, and take hold of the plow-handles, 
or put my shoulder to the wheel, as circum- 
stances may require/ ' 376 He discussed the po- 
litical situation in Iowa with a spirit that left 
no doubt as to his interest in the Commonwealth 
whose government he had directed. In Febru- 
ary he wrote: "If I live and have strength 
enough, I shall return to Iowa in the spring. I 
cannot be contented here — the very sight of 
the negroes annoys me." 377 

True to his word, before the summer of 1846 
he was back at Grouseland in the Territory of 
Iowa. A rare tribute came to him here. The 
Mexican War broke out in the early summer 
and all over the country troops were organizing 
for the fray. Not knowing of the feeble con- 
dition of his predecessor in office, Governor 
Clarke came out one day to the country home of 
Chambers to offer him the command of the 
Iowa troops raised for the war. His health of 
course forbade his accepting. He had lost 
ninety pounds in flesh and was hardly more 
than a shadow of his former self. But for his 



THE YEARS OF TWILIGHT 193 

physical condition, he wrote a few days later 
to a friend, he would not have hesitated, much 
as he disapproved of the course of the govern- 
ment in bringing on the war. 378 

Through the summer he remained at Grouse- 
land. In August he wrote of slightly improved 
health, but he still weighed only one hundred 
twenty-seven pounds. 379 The spirit, however, 
was as active as ever. A second Democratic 
Constitutional Convention had met in May and 
drawn up an instrument known as the Consti- 
tution of 1846. It met the approval of Cham- 
bers no more than had its predecessor, the Con- 
stitution of 1844. "I go against it", he said, 
u as I will against every other which contains 
the odious feature of an Elective Judiciary, and 
takes from the people the ordinary powers of 
Legislation in relation to Incorporations. ' ' 38 ° 
He also objected to the provision which made 
amendment possible only by the calling of a 
convention to revise the instrument. 

He was still at Grouseland in September, 
1846, and from there wrote to William Penn 
Clarke a long letter on political affairs. 381 The 
Whigs were about to hold a convention to nomi- 
nate State and Congressional candidates, the 
Constitution having been ratified by the people ; 
and it was this convention which stirred the 
13 



194 JOHN CHAMBERS 

interest of John Chambers. Evidently Cham- 
bers had been spoken of as a candidate for the 
office of Governor. He authorized Mr. Clarke 
to say for him that his health would not permit 
him to become a candidate for office at this 
time. He remarked, however, that should his 
health become reestablished and should the 
Whigs in the future desire his services for any 
post he would not decline. Neither ill health 
nor advancing age had weakened the interest 
which the Old Kentuckian felt in politics and in 
the affairs of the new State. He proceeded to 
name over the possible candidates for this or 
that office, to discuss party strength and local 
majorities, and to express his opinion as to the 
most expedient men to receive the Whig sup- 
port. 

In this letter James W. Grimes received the 
full strength of an outbreak of Kentuckian 
wrath. Chambers had been informed that 
Grimes was going to the convention with the 
intention of preventing him from being nomi- 
nated to office. The lines of the letter wherein 
he conveys to Clarke his opinion of Grimes and 
his methods are, to say the least, not highly 
complimentary to that gentleman. 

It is difficult to do more than guess at the life 
of John Chambers for the next year and a half. 



THE YEARS OF TWILIGHT 195 

His desire to remain in Iowa was not destined 
to be gratified, probably because of his continu- 
ing ill health. Joseph Sprigg Chambers, who 
had stayed with him in Iowa longer than any 
of the rest of his children, returned to Mason 
County and on February 19, 1847, published the 
first issue of The Maysville Herald, of which he 
was the editor and proprietor. 382 It seems like- 
ly that during this winter John Chambers also 
had journeyed back to the scenes of his younger 
days. At first he visited Jane at Cedar Hill; 
but he soon set about building a new home of 
his own a short distance east of Maysville. 
Here he installed himself in 1848. About this 
time the old home at Cedar Hill was sold by 
J. S. Forman to Colonel Goggin, whose kin still 
own and live in the house. 

It was a quiet life that the ex-Governor now 
lived. He visited his children frequently, and 
they in turn came to stay with him. Through 
all his years he had found happiness in flowers 
and in gardening, and now the opportunity per- 
mitted a full gratification. He also kept chick- 
ens which he tended with the greatest care, 
feeding them with small potatoes which he 
boiled and mashed in their skins. 

The greatest source of information concern- 
ing these later days of the life of Chambers is 



196 JOHN CHAMBERS 

a series of letters which he wrote to his young- 
est son, Henry Chambers. 383 Henry was at 
Lonisville during these years, unmarried and 
casting about for his life work ; and to him the 
old Governor seemed to turn with a particular 
fondness. He advised with him about the choice 
of a profession, condoled with him in his dis- 
couragements, and poured out to him as he 
probably did to no other person his own sor- 
rows. The last six years had in them much of 
pathos. He was a lonely old man, suffering 
almost continuously from poor health. 

In the spring of 1849 he wrote to Henry from 
his home above Maysville telling him of the 
news from the relatives and discussing the 
spread of cholera in the towns along the river. 
He ended with the injunction: "If the cholera 
spreads in Louisville you must come home or 
write to me every other day if not every 
day." 384 The disease, however, took effect in 
another direction. On the second of September 
in the same year, Mary and Laura, the two 
youngest daughters who had for a time kept 
house for the Governor at Grouseland, both died 
and were buried in the same grave at Paris. 385 

It was perhaps fortunate that there came at 
this time a call to public duties that took Cham- 
bers away from Kentucky and engaged his 



THE YEARS OF TWILIGHT 197 

thoughts in the time immediately following his 
bereavement. He had evidently not been for- 
gotten by those at Washington, D. C, who had 
known of his experience in Indian affairs, for 
he now received an appointment to proceed to 
Mendota at the juncture of the Minnesota and 
Mississippi rivers and there, in connection with 
Governor Eamsay of the Territory of Minne- 
sota, negotiate a treaty of cession with the 
Sioux Indians. 

He left Maysville on Thursday, September 
6, 1849, with his son-in-law, J. S. Forman. The 
trip by boat was a tedious one. They stopped 
at Eipley to see Francis Taylor, who fifty-two 
years before had made John Chambers his 
Deputy Clerk, and at Cincinnati they visited 
Frank Chambers. 386 Then they passed on down 
the Ohio and up the Mississippi, reaching the 
site of Fort Snelling and Mendota after three 
long weeks. 

Upwards of two thousand Indians had come 
together by the first of October, and several 
thousand more were expected. In front of the 
tent of Chambers on Sunday, the last day of 
September, they held a scalp-dance. These 
dances were repeated at various times during 
the negotiations being participated in by from 
three to five hundred at a time. 387 Their annui- 



198 JOHN CHAMBERS 

ties were paid at this time, and great efforts 
were made during several weeks to secure a 
purchase of land; but no treaty was made, al- 
though Chambers refers to the negotiation as 
partially successful. Chambers returned to 
Kentucky in the winter, loaded down with In- 
dian trinkets and relics for his grand- children. 

Never did Chambers lose interest in his chil- 
dren and his grand-children. The latter looked 
up to him with something of fear and remem- 
bered him as a man of sternness, but they well 
knew the affection that lay beneath his digni- 
fied mien. In his letters he reveals his true self. 
The death of a child of his daughter Matilda 
brought from him in October, 1850, a letter full 
of sympathy and counsel. "It can avail little 
my child", he wrote, "to know that your aged 
father sympathizes with you in your distress, 
and feels more than from his old age, and re- 
cluse habits might be expected. ' ' 388 He then 
spoke of some of his own sorrows in the three 
score and ten years of his life, and wondered 
that his heart had not long since broken. 

Grood counsel abounded in his letters to his 
children. "The great secret of human happi- 
ness consists in making others happy", he ad- 
monished his daughter Jane in a letter written 
from Washington, D. ft, back in the days of his 



THE YEARS OF TWILIGHT 199 

Congressional career. He seldom mentioned 
religious subjects, but in this same letter he took 
occasion to speak very clearly of his ideas. He 
recommended to Jane the reading of the New 
Testament which, he wrote, contained "many 
of the finest moral precepts that ever were writ- 
ten/ ? "No person", he continued, "was ever 
rendered worse by becoming a christian in be- 
lief and in faith, but many believers become in- 
tolerant, vindictive and grossly sinful by at- 
taching themselves to sectarian doctrines and 
denouncing all who do not concur with them in 
their narrow views & sectarian prejudices. You 
would perhaps think it strange to be told my 
daughter that your father never lays his head 
down to rest without a deep and ardent expres- 
sion of gratitude to the giver of all good for his 
daily bounty for his forbearance and mercy to- 
ward him and his beloved children and implor- 
ing the protection of a merciful providence". 389 
Though the years came on apace and sickness 
racked his body, Chambers did not descend into 
that doddering stage of senility that comes 
upon so many men. That the Kentucky spirit 
still burned fiercely in his seventy-first summer, 
is well shown by an incident which he detailed 
to his son Henry in a letter written in May, 
1851. It is evident that the old man had an 



200 JOHN CHAMBERS 

unsettled account, not financial, which he de- 
sired to settle. His own words best tell the 
tale: 

A few days ago I met .... a certain cousen of 
yours, who I have been indebted to for some time, 
but could not consent to pay him while his excellent 
father lived, that difficulty removed I apprised him 
some time ago that whenever a suitable occasion pre- 
sented itself he would get it, so meeting on water 
street (no person in sight) I give him my stick over 
his head & upon his twisting it out of my hand & rais- 
ing it as if to strike I struck him in the mouth with 
my fist & again near the eye and then taking out my 
pen knife I made him give up the stick & again 
struck him over the head, by that time several persons 
reached the field & put a stop to the scene I did not 
hurt him seriously nor did I intend it. My object 
was to disgrace him, and think even that was hardly 
necessary, for he is very much despised in town — it 
will however teach him that it is not entirely safe to 
lie even about an old man. 390 

Perhaps this encounter convinced the people 
of Mason County that the Old Kentuckian was 
still good for years of political service. At all 
events lie wrote in June, 1851, to Henry to say 
that an attempt had been made to induce, "if 
not to force' ' him to become a candidate for the 
Senate of the State to represent Mason and 
Lewis counties. He over and over again had 
emphatically refused to sanction the use of his 



THE YEARS OF TWILIGHT 201 

name, but he feared that a public declaration 
would be necessary to keep them from nominat- 
ing him. Four days later he said in a letter to 
his daughter Jane: "I believe I have got out 
of my political difficulty, for I have positively 
refused to suffer myself to be used as a candi- 
date and after the meeting of the County con- 
vention (day after tomorrow) I suppose there 
will be no more said about it. Your excuse for 
me that I am upwards of 70 years old seemed 
to have no effect, for every body insisted that I 
was just as able to do service as ever I was — 
fools, they don't know how a man of seventy 
years old feels". 391 

In fact his health was very poor at this time 
and he was restless. He visited various springs 
in search of relief, and made several visits to 
Paris. When cold weather came on he went out 
to the little town of Washington and spent the 
winter at the tavern. Here he began and labo- 
riously finished the Autobiography which Henry 
had asked for. The request of Henry's had 
pleased him greatly and he had been happy in 
writing out the sketch even though it was a 
task of no small proportions to one so feeble. 
On December he wrote a long letter to Henry 
telling of his progress on the sketch and adding 
the impatient postscript: "I am reduced to 



202 JOHN CHAMBERS 

writing with a steel pen and would as soon dig 
potatoes with a negroe mall." 392 In January 
he completed the autobiographical sketch and 
sent it to Henry. 393 

Before March began he had moved out to 
Paris and was living at the home of his daugh- 
ter Matilda. It was his last move. In the late 
summer he found himself no longer able to sit 
up ; and in the middle of the afternoon of Sep- 
tember 21, 1852, he died at the home of his 
daughter, Matilda Brent, at Paris. 394 His body 
was taken on the following day to the town of 
Washington, and there he was buried near the 
scenes of his young days, the old turnpike road, 
the court house where he had argued so many 
cases, and the old home at Cedar Hill where he 
and Hannah had spent so many happy years. 

No tombstone marks the grave of John 
Chambers. The wild grass and bushes overrun 
the spot. But the life of the big-hearted Old 
Kentuckian finds its symbol in a large pine, 
sturdy and straight, that reaches long branches 
out over the place where he lies buried. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 



»oa 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 

CHAPTEE I 

1 In the Autobiography of John Chambers, written 
during the last year of his life, appears the following 
statement concerning the ancestors of Governor 
Chambers : 

I have understood that they were of Scotch origin, and from 
a conversation between my father and a very aged Scotchman 
when I was a boy, I learned that my more remote ancestors 
were of the Scotch clan Cameron, and bore the name of the 
clan, but refusing to join in the rebellion of 1645, they were 
compelled to emigrate, and took shelter in Ireland, changing 
their name to Chambers, which they were afterwards per- 
mitted by an act of the British Parliament to retain. 

An effort was made by Mr. Jacob Van der Zee to 
verify these statements by an examination of mate- 
rials in Oxford and London, but no substantiating 
evidence was found. 

This Autobiography, which was recently secured by 
Benj. F. Shambaugh from Mrs. Henry Chambers, has 
been edited by John C. Parish and published by The 
State Historical Society of Iowa. The original manu- 
script has been for over half a century in the posses- 
sion of the family of Henry Chambers, the youngest 
son of the Governor. Constant use has been made 
of the material given therein. It will be referred to 
in these pages as the Autobiography of John Cham- 
bers. 

205 



206 JOHN CHAMBERS 

2 Many of the facts concerning the family of John 
Chambers have been gathered from an unpublished 
Chambers Genealogy, compiled from old letters, wills, 
family Bibles, and other original records by Mr. 
Harry Brent Mackoy of Covington, Kentucky, a 
great grandson of Governor John Chambers. A copy 
of this manuscript was kindly loaned to The State 
Historical Society of Iowa by Mr. Mackoy for use in 
the preparation of this volume. It will be referred 
to herein as Mackoy 's Chambers Genealogy (Manu- 
script). 

3 Chambers makes the statement in his Autobiog- 
raphy that his grandfather, James Chambers, settled 
on the Juniata River, while Mackoy places his as well 
as his father's location as given in the text. — See 
Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 1; and Mackoy 's 
Chambers Genealogy (Manuscript). 

4 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 2. 

5 Mackoy 's Chambers Genealogy (Manuscript). 
c Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 5. 

7 There is in the possession of Mr. Harry Brent 
Mackoy a certificate from the office of the Adjutant 
General, Trenton, New Jersey, to the effect that Row- 
land Chambers served as a private in Jacob Ten 
Eyek's Company, First Battalion. Somerset County. 
New Jersey Militia, during the Revolution. John 
Chambers makes the assertion in his Autobiography 
(p. 5) that his father was in command of a regiment 
of New Jersey militia and the statement receives 
credit by Mackoy. 

8 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 7. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 207 

9 Hulbert's Historic Highways of America, Vol. XI, 
pp. 156, 157. 

10 Chapter III in Volume XI of Hulbert's Historic 
Highways of America is devoted to a discussion of 
Zane's Trace and the Maysville Pike. 

11 The famous Wilderness Road which pierced the 
mountain wall at Cumberland Gap, and over which 
so many thousand of Kentucky's pioneers traveled, 
was laid out by Daniel Boone in 1775. — See Roose- 
velt's The Winning of the West, Vol. I, p. 302, 303; 
and Hulbert's Historic Highways of America, Vol. VI. 

12 Collins 's History of Kentucky, Vol. I. 

13 Hening's Statutes of Virginia, Vol. XII, p. 361. 

CHAPTEE II 

14 A stone over the front doorway bears the initials 
(L. C.) of the builder, Lewis Craig, and the date 
1794. From this time until 1848, when Maysville was 
made the county seat, this building was the scene of 
hundreds of historic meetings and the forum of a half 
century of Kentucky eloquence. In the front court 
yard was held many a slave sale, and it was while 
watching one of these scenes that Harriet Beecher 
Stowe, a visitor in the town, conceived the idea of the 
slave sale in Uncle Tom's Cabin. [In 1909, after the 
above was written, the court-house was destroyed by 
fire.] 

15 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. 7, 8. 

16 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 8. 



208 JOHN CHAMBERS 

17 Francis Taylor was the son of Major Ignatius 
Taylor of Hagerstown, Maryland, by his first wife. 
He came from Hagerstown to Kentucky in his early 
manhood and was a very successful lawyer. 

18 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. 9, 10. 

19 Rules of the Washington District Court, pp. 59- 
60. This ancient record of cases coming before the 
District Court in Washington is preserved in the Of- 
fice of the Clerk of the Circuit Court at Maysville, 
Mason County, Kentucky. 

20 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 28. An ef- 
fort was made by the writer to find the records of 
the town of Washington, both in Washington and in 
Maysville, but without success. The county records, 
however, were safely transferred from Washington to 
Maysville when the latter place was made the county 
seat, and are preserved in excellent condition. 

21 The license of John Chambers to practice law "in 
any of the Courts within this Commonwealth" has 
been preserved by his descendants. It is a sheepskin 
manuscript, yellow with age but still clearly legible. 
It bears the date of November 5, 1800, and is signed 
by John Coburn and John Allen, before whom he 
appeared for examination. 

CHAPTEE III 

22 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 10. Just 
when Rowland Chambers and his wife returned to 
Washington is difficult to say. John Chambers says 
that he proposed their removal in the spring of 1801 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 209 

and ''soon accomplished" it. Order Book A (p. 100), 
however, of the Bracken County Court shows that on 
July 4, 1801, Rowland Chambers qualified as a Jus- 
tice of Peace of that County. 

23 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 12. 

24 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 14. 

25 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 14. 

26 These volumes are now preserved in the Office of 
the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Mason County, at 
Maysville, Kentucky. 

27 Record of Personal Actions, A, Circuit Court of 
Mason County, Kentucky. 

28 Record of Personal Actions, B, Circuit Court of 
Mason County, Kentucky. 

29 Record of Personal Actions, B, Circuit Court of 
Mason County, Kentucky. 

30 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 39. 

31 Ignatius Taylor, the father-in-law of John Cham- 
bers by both his first and second marriages, was mar- 
ried three times, in each case marrying a widow who 
had children by a former marriage. His first wife 
was Mrs. Ann Par ran (nee Wilkinson) and their 
children were Francis Taylor, and Ann Taylor who 
married one Joseph Sprigg. The second wife of Ig- 
natius Taylor was a Mrs. Jourdan, and their only 
child was Margaret Taylor, the first wife of John 
Chambers. Ignatius Taylor's third wife was Mrs. 
Hall (Barbara Bowie) and their oldest daughter was 
Hannah Taylor, the second wife of John Chambers. 
The above facts are taken largely from manuscript 

14 



210 JOHN CHAMBERS 

notes in the possession of Mr. Harry B. Mackoy of 
Covington, Kentucky. 

32 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 15. 

33 Cedar Hill is now owned by Mr. Lucien Maltby, 
by whom the house has been recently remodeled and 
improved. Aside from the addition of a porch extend- 
ing across the entire front of the house, in place of 
the original one which was much smaller, the gen- 
eral effect of the house has been little changed. The 
old fireplaces and mantels, the walnut hand rail and 
the simple balusters of the graceful stairway remain 
as before, and at every turn one feels the spell of the 
former days. 

34 Manuscript letter from Jane Chambers Forman 
to Governor John Chambers, February 5, 1842. 

35 These miniatures are now in the possession of 
Mrs. Henry Chambers, of Louisville, Kentucky. 
Plates were first made from them for the Autobiog- 
raphy of John Chambers. In this volume they appear 
opposite page 26. 

36 Manuscript letter from Throckmorton Forman to 
Mrs. M. B. Mackoy, February 6, 1893. 

37 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 16. There 
is in the Historical Department at Des Moines a let- 
ter from John Chambers to Messrs. N. Poyntz and 
Company of Maysville, Kentucky, dated January 18, 
1832, itemizing a quantity of rope which he was send- 
ing to that company for sale by them. The rope- 
walk was finally sold to John S. Forman, a son-in-law 
of John Chambers. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 211 

CHAPTER IV 

38 Shaler's Kentucky, p. 158. 

39 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. 16, 17. 

40 Journal of House of Representatives (Kentucky), 
1812-1813, p. 9. 

41 Journal of House of Representatives (Kentucky), 
1812-1813, pp. 3, 4. 

42 Journal of House of Representatives (Kentucky), 
1812-1813, pp. 6, 8. 

43 Journal of House of Representatives (Kentucky), 
1812-1813, pp. 58, 74, 110, 111. 

44 Laws of Kentucky, 1812-1813, p. 106. 

45 For accounts of this engagement, see Henry 
Adams's History of the United States, Vol. VII, pp. 
72-98 ; also Lossing 's Pictorial F eld-Book of the War 
of 1812, pp. 354-360. 

46 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 18. 

47 Laws of Kentucky, 1812-1813, p. 99. 

48 This letter, written from Frankfort on August 20, 
1813, was found in the possession of Mr. Throckmor- 
ton Forman of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

49 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 20. 

50 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 20 

51 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. 20, 21. 

52 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 21. 

33 Henry Adams 's History of the United States, Vol. 
VII, p. 130. 



212 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Richardson's War of 1812 (Casselman edition), p. 
206. John Richardson was a Major in the army of 
Procter and his account is valuable because of the 
British view point which it gives. 

5 * Henry Adams's History of the United States, 
Vol. VII, p. 133. 

55 Richardson's War of 1812 (Casselman edition), 
p. 212; Henry Adams's History of the United States, 
Vol. VII, p. 140; and Lossing's Pictorial Field-Booh 
of the War of 1812, p. 556. 

56 M'Afee's History of the Late War in the Western 
Country, p. 398; and Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book 
of the War of 1812, p. 555. 

57 Report of General Harrison to John Armstrong, 
Secretary of War, October 9, 1813. 

58 This letter, dated October 14, 1813, was found in 
the possession of Mr. Throckmorton Forman of Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio. 

CHAPTER V 

59 In Circuit Order Book, H, p. 411, of the Mason 
County Circuit Court, proceedings are recorded for 
the May term. 1816, involving the firm of Chambers 
and Taylor. In Circuit Order Book, I, p. 163, further 
proceedings in the same case are recorded for the 
November term, 1816, and John Chambers is here 
mentioned as the surviving partner of the late firm of 
Chambers and Taylor. 

60 This information is given in a letter from Wil- 
liam Paxton, son of James A. Paxton, to Throckmor- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 213 

ton Forman. The relationship is mentioned in the 
Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 26. 

61 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 22. 

62 Journal of House of Representatives (Kentucky), 
1815-1816, passim. 

63 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 22. 

64 The commission of John Chambers as Justice of 
Peace is in the County Clerk's Office at Maysville, 
Kentucky, and bears the date May 11, 1819. See also 
Register of Justices in the State House at Frankfort, 
Kentucky. His resignation is recorded in a manu- 
script volume entitled County Order K, on June 7, 
1823. This series of records is preserved in the Of- 
fice of County Clerk at Maysville, Kentucky, and is 
the official account of the doings of the County Court, 
which consisted of the Justices of the Peace of the 
county, meeting as one body. The office of Justice 
was filled by commission from the Governor, upon 
nominations made by the Justices of each county. At 
the February term of the Mason County Court, in 
1819, a majority of the Justices met and recommended 
John Chambers and James A. Paxton as proper per- 
sons from whom the Governor might choose a Justice. 
It is presumable that Chambers and Paxton were at 
this time law partners. — See County Court Order 
Book, H, p. 291. 

65 Chambers was nominated for this position on 
February 12, 1820, and commissioned two days later. 
— See Executive Journal of Governors Madison and 
Slaughter, 1816-1820, pp. 219, 221. The original vol- 



214 JOHN CHAMBERS 

umes here referred to are in the State House at 
Frankfort, Kentucky. 

66 The most detailed account of this period of mone- 
tary difficulties of which the writer has knowledge is 
an extended article on The Old and New Court Strug- 
gle, by W. H. Mackoy of Covington, Kentucky, ap- 
pearing in The Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, 
pp. 304-318. The manuscript of this article was kind- 
ly loaned to the writer by Mr. Mackoy and has 
proven of great service in the preparation of the 
present chapter. Good accounts are also given in 
Collins 's History of Kentucky, in Smith's The History 
of Kentucky, and in Shaler's Kentucky. Much origi- 
nal material is to be found in the newspapers of the 
time, in the Journals and Laws of the Kentucky Leg- 
islature and in the reports of the Court of Appeals. 
In Frankfort two weekly publications reflected the 
partisanship of the contest. These were the Patriot, 
the organ of the New Court Party, and the Spirit of 
'76, representing the Old Court. The issues of Niles' 
Register also contain much good material. 

67 Mackoy 's The Old and New Court Struggle in 
The Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky. 

68 Mackoy 's The Old and New Court Struggle in 
The Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky. 

69 Mackoy 's The Old and New Court Struggle in 
The Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky. 

70 The Bank of Kentucky had for many years ex- 
isted on a sound basis. Recently, due to the demand 
made upon it by the United States Bank for the pay- 
ment of its notes, it had been forced to suspend specie 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 215 

payments. The financial legislation on the part of 
Kentucky gradually forced it into bankruptcy, and in 
1822 its charter was repealed. 

71 Sumner's History of American Currency, pp. 
81, 84; Mackoy's The Old and New Court Struggle in 
The Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky. 

72 Blair v. Williams, 4 Littell 34. This case was ap- 
pealed from the decision of Judge Clark of the Bour- 
bon Circuit Court, who had held the law unconstitu- 
tional. 

73 The decision in the case of Blair v. Williams was 
given on October 8, 1823. See also the decision in the 
case of Lapsley v. Brashears, 4 Littell 47, given by 
the Court of Appeals on October 11, 1823. 

74 The Reorganizing Act was approved on December 
24, 1824.— See Laws of Kentucky, 1824-1825, p. 44. 
A few days later an act was approved increasing the 
salary of the Judges of the Court of Appeals to 
$2000.— Laws of Kentucky, 1824-1825, p. 107. 

73 The records of the New Court are contained in a 
volume of one hundred and fifty-two pages containing 
one hundred and sixty-one decisions. — Mackoy's The 
Old and New Court Struggle in The Lawyers and 
Lawmakers of Kentucky. 

76 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. IX, No. 428. 
March 12, 1825. The most extensive files of Ken- 
tucky newspapers of the early period now in existence 
are in the private library of Colonel Reuben T. Dur- 
rett of Louisville, Kentucky. 

Laws of Kentucky, 1826-1827, p. 13. 



77 



216 JOHN CHAMBERS 

CHAPTEE VI 

78 The Eagle (Maysville), November 10, 1824. The 
most complete files of this paper, as of the Commenta- 
tor referred to above, are in the private library of 
Colonel Reuben T. Durrett of Louisville, Kentucky. 

79 Laws of Kentucky, 1824-1825, p. 25. 

80 Thomas and Williams's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 197. 

81 Mr. Barry took the oath of office as Secretary of 
State on September 2, 1824. — See Executive Journal 
of Governor Joseph Desha, 1824-1825, in the State 
House at Frankfort, Kentucky. 

82 The election of Mr. Rowan as Senator occurred 
on November 5, 1824. — See Executive Journal of Gov- 
ernor Joseph Desha, 1824-1825. 

8s Niles' Register, Vol. XXV, pp. 275, 276, January 

3, 1824. 

84 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. IX, No. 423. 
February 5, 1825. 

85 Among the rare volumes in the private library of 
Colonel Reuben T. Durrett of Louisville, Kentucky, 
is a book of about two hundred twenty pages entitled 
A Statement of the Trial of Isaac B. Desha. It was 
compiled by Robert S. Thomas and George W. "Wil- 
liams and published in 1825. The indictment, the 
testimony of the witnesses, the speeches of four of the 
attorneys, and the procedure in the first trial are 
contained herein and form the most valuable source 
of information for the present chapter. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 217 

86 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 31. 

87 This name is spelled variously as Elismon, Eliz- 
bon, and Elisbon. 

88 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. IX, No. 423, 
February 5, 1825. 

89 Thomas and Williams's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, pp. 160-177. 

90 Thomas and Williams's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 161. 

91 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 162. 

92 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 162. 

93 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, pp. 178-196. 

94 Thomas and Williams's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 181. 

95 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 181. 

96 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 197. 

97 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 197. 

98 Thomas and Williams 's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, p. 198. 

99 Thomas and Williams's A Statement of the Trial 
of Isaac B. Desha, pp. 214, 215. 

100 The Eagle (Maysville), February 9, 1825. 



218 JOHN CHAMBERS 

101 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. IX, No. 431, 
April 2, 1825. 

102 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. IX, No. 443, 
June 25, 1825. This paper estimated the monthly 
cost of keeping and guarding the prisoner at two hun- 
dred dollars. 

103 The Commentator (Frankfort), September 17, 
1825. 

104 The Commentator (Frankfort), October 1, 1825. 
This issue contains the following item in regard to 
the Deshas: 

This family hangs heavily upon the Treasury — the father 
draws 2000 as his salary — the son-in-law draws 1000 as sec- 
retary of state — and Isaac B. the son, in less than one year, 
has cost the Commonwealth $3000, as a culprit arraigned un- 
der the charge of a small offense of murder, of assassinating an 
innocent and unarmed traveller. Long will the people of Ken- 
tucky remember the reign of JOSEPH I. 

105 The Maysville Eagle, June 14, 1826. 

106 The Maysville Eagle, July 12, 1826. 

107 Laws of Kentucky, 1824-1825, p. 25. The action 
of Judge Brown in this case received much adverse 
comment, and the next legislature discussed the ques- 
tion of subjecting his conduct to an official investiga- 
tion. — See Journals of House and Senate, 1826-1827, 
passim. 

108 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. XI, No. 71, 
June 30, 1827. 

109 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. XI, No. 71, 
June 30, 1827. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 219 

110 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. XI, No. 71, 
June 30, 1827. 

111 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. XII, No. 
139, October 18, 1828. 

CHAPTER VII 

112 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. VII, No. 39, August 
8, 1827. 

113 



114 

1828, 



The Maysville Eagle, December 26, 1827. 

The Maysville Eagle, Vol. VIII, No. 30, June 4, 



115 The official returns made by the Sheriffs of the 
various counties gave Metcalfe a majority of only 
709 votes in a total of over 77,000. Underwood, who 
was the candidate of the National Republicans for 
Lieutenant Governor, was defeated by the Democratic 
candidate, Breathitt, by a majority of slightly over 
1000 votes. — See The Maysville Eagle for August 
27, 1828. 

116 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. VIII, No. 40, August 
13, 1828. 

117 Shaler's Kentucky, pp. 185, 186. 

118 The vacancy on the Supreme Court bench was 
caused by the death of Robert Trimble and was filled 
through the appointment of John McLean by Presi- 
dent Jackson. 

119 Coleman's Life of John J. Crittenden, Vol. I, p. 
79. 



220 JOHN CHAMBERS 

120 Manuscript letter from Mrs. Hannah T. Cham- 
bers to John Chambers, December 15, 1828. 

121 Manuscript letter from Mrs. Hannah T. Cham- 
bers to John Chambers, February 3, 1829. 

122 Manuscript letter from Mrs. Hannah T. Cham- 
bers to John Chambers, December 19, 1828. 

123 In the Annals of Iowa for July, 1871, Vol. IX, 
p. 553, there appears an excellent sketch of Governor 
Chambers written but not signed by his oldest son, 
Joseph Sprigg Chambers. It is based largely upon 
the Autobiography, but contains much that came from 
personal knowledge. In the sketch the writer tells of 
the introduction by Chambers in Congress of a bill 
granting a pension to General Simon Kenton, the 
famous Kentucky pioneer, and of his father's speech 
in favor of the bill which secured its passage ; and he 
goes on to recount an affecting scene in Chambers's 
law office, when Kenton, having walked all the way 
from his home on the Mad River in Ohio, came to 
thank his friend for his service. The incident is 
probably based on fact, but the forty years interven- 
ing perhaps dimmed the writer's memory somewhat, 
for the bill which granted twenty dollars a month as 
a pension for Simon Kenton was approved on May 
28, 1830, at a session when Chambers was not a mem- 
ber of Congress. — See United States Statutes at 
Large, Vol. VI, p. 434. It is probable that Chambers, 
who had known Kenton well, was instrumental in a 
private way in securing the pension. 

124 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. X, No. 37, July 20, 
1830. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 221 

125 Nelson's Presidential Influence on the Policy of 
Internal Improvements in The Iowa Journal of His- 
tory and Politics, Vol. IV, pp. 40, 41, January, 1906. 

Hulbert's Historic Highways of America, Vol. XI. 
pp. 167-174. The veto message of President Jackson 
was dated May 27, 1830, and is found in Richardson's 
Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. II, pp. 
483-493. This attitude had a very considerable in- 
fluence in alienating the affections of the people of 
Kentucky from Andrew Jackson and building up the 
popularity of Henry Clay. 

126 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XI, No. 6, December 
15, 1830. 

127 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1830-1831, p. 136. The date of the adoption 
of this resolution was December 29, 1830. 

128 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1830-1831, p. 156. The reprrt occupies a lit- 
tle more than eight pages of the Journal. 

129 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XI, No. 10, January 
11, 1831. 

130 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XI, No. 11, January 
18, 1831. 

131 Laws of Kentucky, 1830-1831, p. 117. 

132 Statute Laws of Kentucky, Vol. V, p. 295. 

133 The Commentator (Frankfort), Vol. XV, No. 
300, November 15, 1831. 

134 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1830-1831, p. 237. 



222 JOHN CHAMBERS 

135 The Commentator (Frankfort), January 18, 
1831. 

136 The Maysville Eagle, August 9, 1831. 

137 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1831, p. 280. 

138 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1831, p. 65. 

139 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XII, No. 6, December 
13, 1831. 

140 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1831, p. 108. 

141 The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XII, No. 6, December 
13. 1831. 

142 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky) , 1831, passim. See also The Commentator 
(Frankfort), November 29, 1831. 

143 Journal of House of Representatives (Ken- 
tucky), 1831, p. 241. The final vote in the House was 
taken on December 15, 1831. 

144 Laws of Kentucky, 1832-1833, p. 258. The law 
was approved February 2. 1833. 

145 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 23. Cham- 
bers was also very active in local politics at this time. 
He was appointed as Chairman of the Committee of 
Correspondence for the Second Congressional District 
in December, 1831, and appointed as a delegate to 
the Cincinnati Tariff Convention. In the fall of the 
year 1832 he served as Chairman of the Committee of 
Vigilance for Mason County. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 223 

146 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 41; and 
also The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XIII, No. 2, November 
35, 1832. 

147 It is evident from his letters to his family during 
these years that his law practice was very extended, 
necessitating his attendance at the courts of Mason, 
Bracken, Fleming, Lewis, and other counties. 

148 Lucretia Chambers, the youngest child, was born 
March 14, 1830, and died on the fifth of March, 1836. 
— See Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 41. 

149 The oldest daughter of John and Hannah Cham- 
bers, Margaret Taylor Chambers, had, in 1826, mar- 
ried Hugh Innis Brent of Paris, Bourbon County, 
who was a brother of Charles Scott Brent. 

150 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Mrs. 
Matilda Chambers Brent, February 21, 1835. 

CHAPTER VIII 

151 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 23. Cham^ 
bers here places his resignation in April, but his mem- 
ory is evidently at fault. — See also The Maysville 
Eagle, February 26, March 5, and March 26, 1835. 
The issue for March 26 said: "We speak the feel- 
ings of the bar here, and we believe of the country 
generally, when we express a regret that Mr. Cham- 
bers declines taking a seat upon the bench of the 
Supreme Court. It was a station where he could and 
would have been eminently useful — bringing to the 
decision of litigated cases a strong and clear judg- 
ment, extensive legal knowledge and a strictly impar- 
tial temper." 



224 JOHN CHAMBERS 

152 rp^ gj^. announC ement f hi s candidacy appears 
in The Maysville Eagle for April 16, 1835. — See also 
the Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 23. 

153 Tk e i as f. name d of these candidates, Adam Beat- 
ty, lived a long life in Mason County, holding many 
positions of public honor. In his last years Chambers 
writes affectionately of his old friend Adam Beatty. 

154 Williams expressed himself as in favor of the 
Bank of the United States, but stated that he was not 
in favor of a re-charter but a charter of another simi- 
lar bank, fearing that if a re-charter were granted 
"the Bank would take it as a triumph over the gov- 
ernment, and would be likely to run into the very 
practices with which she has been charged by the Ad- 
ministration. ' ' — See The Maysville Eagle for May, 
June, and July, 1835. 

155 rp^ i as f. e i ec tion returns, reported in The Mays- 
ville Eagle for August 13, 1835, gave Chambers 1148 
votes in Mason County against 274 for Tanner; while 
in the entire district the vote was 3155 for Chambers 
and 1365 for Tanner. 

156 At a celebration of the Battle of Tippecanoe 
held at Paris, Kentucky, on November 7, 1835, Cham- 
bers delivered a speech in praise of General Harrison 
and closed with the following toast : (< The memory of 
the brave Kentuckians — who fell in battle in the late 
war — History has recorded their gallant deeds, but 
the State owes a monument of marble to their mem- 
ory."— The Maysville Eagle, Vol. XVI, No. 2, Novem- 
ber 18, 1835. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 225 

157 Richardson 's Messages and Papers of the Presi- 
dents, Vol. Ill, pp. 97-101. The message alluded to 
was the regular annual message of December 1, 1834. 
The diplomatic correspondence may be found very 
largely in the documents sent to Congress during the 
last session of the Twenty-third Congress and the 
first session of the Twenty-fourth Congress and pub- 
lished in the above volume of Richardson's Messages 
and Papers of the Presidents. 

158 Journal of the House of Representatives, 1835- 
1836, Twenty-fourth Congress, First Session, p. 165. 

159 rpj^ ex pi ana tion of the attitude of Chambers up- 
on this resolution is given in an extract, published in 
The Maysville Eagle for February 6, 1836, from a let- 
ter of Chambers. With respect to the anticipated war 
he remarked : ' ' There is, and will be a sad shrinkage, 
in the ranks of our party on the war question; for 
myself I have no fears about it; if a war becomes 
inevitable, I shall go as far, in support of it. as others 
who will be more ready to rush into it." 

160 Richardson's Messages and Papers of the Presi- 
dents, Vol. Ill, p. 188. This message is dated Janu- 
ary 15, 1836. 

1(51 The Congressional Globe, Twenty-fourth Con- 
gress, First Session, 1835-1836, pp. 196, 204, 238. 

162 The Maysville Eagle, March 16, 1836. The ac- 
count of the first speech of Chambers against the bill 
is quoted from the Paris Citizen. The same issue of 
the Eagle contains an account of a second speech de- 
livered on March 8, 1836. 

15 



226 JOHN CHAMBERS 

163 Henry A. Wise was for many years an active and 
very intense Representative from the State of Vir- 
ginia. Upon his appearance in the House the follow- 
ing comment is made by John Quincy Adams in his 
Diary: "He is coming forward as a successor of 
John Randolph, with his tartness, his bitterness, his 
malignity and his inconsistencies. ' ' — Memoirs of 
John Quincy Adams, Vol. IX, p. 88. 

164 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Lucre- 
tia Stull, April 3, 1836, found in the possession of 
Mrs. Hannah Chambers Forman of Chicago. Lucre- 
tia Stull was at this time on a visit at Cedar Hill. 
She was a daughter of 0. H. W. Stull, Secretary of 
the Territory of Iowa during the first part of the ad- 
ministration of Governor Chambers. O. H. W. Stull 
had married Letitia Sprigg Hall, a half sister of Han- 
nah Taylor, the second wife of John Chambers. Han- 
nah Taylor had also two full sisters — Jane, who mar- 
ried Judge Samuel Treat, and Lucretia, who married 
Arthur Fox of Mason County. — See Bowie 's The 
Bowies and their Kindred, pp. 51, 52. 

165 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Lu- 
cretia Stull, April 3. 1836, found in the possession of 
Mrs. Hannah Chambers Forman of Chicago. 

166 The first announcement of the candidacy of 
Chambers for reelection appeared in The Maysville 
Eagle for March 15. 1837. A little over a month later 
a call appeared signed "Many Voters ", requesting 
Thomas Metcalfe to become a candidate. Metcalfe 
replied in a lengthy communication in which he de- 
clined to oppose the candidacy of Chambers. The fol- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 227 

lowing quotation from his remarks illustrates the 
change of attitude of the Southern Whigs toward 
John Quincy Adams by reason of his espousal of the 
right of petition : 

Led on, by the man no longer a patriot in fact, whatever he 
may be in design, who but recently filled with my most cordial 
approbation the first office in the world (and filled it nobly 
and patriotically too) the mock philanthropists of the North 
(unless they are frowned into silence by the virtuous and 
patriotic portion of the North itself) will never resist [desist] 
from their diabolical assaults, until with one heart and one 
mind we repel their wicked intermedling with the institutions 
of the South — institutions which they have no moral or con- 
stitutional right to disturb. — See The Maysville Eagle (semi 
weekly), May 3, 1837. 

167 Journal of House of Representatives, Twenty- 
fifth Congress, First Session, September-October, 
1837, passim. 

168 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. Ill, 
No. 4, November 15, 1837. 

169 The Congressional Globe, Twenty-fifth Congress, 
First Session. September-October, 1837, p. 141. 

170 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. II, No. 
207. October 28, 1837. 

171 See above p. 69. — Coleman 's Life of John J. 
Crittenden, Vol. I. p. 79. 

172 This speech was delivered at Washington, Ken- 
tucky, on November 13, 1837, and is reported in The 
Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. Ill, No. 4, No- 
vember 15, 1837. 

173 The Pinckney resolutions were three in number. 



228 JOHN CHAMBEKS 

and were voted upon separately. They were as fol- 
lows: 

1. Besolved, That Congress possesses no constitutional 
authority to interfere, in any way, with the institution of 

slavery in any of the States of this confederacy. 

2. Besolved, That Congress ought not to interfere, in any 
way, with slavery in the District of Columbia. 

o. Besolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions, 
propositions, or papers, relating in any way or to any extent 
whatever to the subject of slavery, or the abolition of slavery, 
shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid upon the 
table, and that no further action whatever shall be had thereon. 

The first resolution passed the House on May 25, 
1836, by a vote of 182 to 9. The second and third 
were passed on the day following with votes, respec- 
tively, of 132 to 45 and 117 to 68. In none of three 
cases did John Chambers cast a vote. — See Journal 
of House of Representatives, Twenty-fourth Congress, 
First Session, 1835-1836, pp. 876, 881, 884. 

174 One of the most remarkable commentaries upon 
American politics is the Memoirs of John Quincy 
Adams. This work comprises portions of his diary 
from 1795 to 1848 and is full of the most valuable 
material throwing light on American history and 
biography. 

175 Journal of Bouse of Representatives, Twenty- 
fourth Congress, First Session, 1835-1836, p. 884. 

Journal of House of Representatives, Twenty-fourth 
Congress, Second Session, 1836-1837, p. 236. 

Journal of House of Representatives, Twenty-fifth 
Congress, Second Session, 1837-1838, p. 129. 

Journal of House of Representatives, Twenty-fifth 
Congress, Third Session. 1838-1839, p. 70. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 229 

176 This attitude is clearly shown in the remarks of 
Southern members on December 12, 1838, when the 
resolutions known as the Atherton Gag were passed. 
The resolutions were introduced by Charles G. Ather- 
ton of New Hampshire. The first four declared that 
Congress had no jurisdiction over slavery in the several 
States; that the petitions for the abolition of slavery 
in the District of Columbia and the Territories was a 
part of a plan to affect the institution in the States, 
that the agitation of the subject of slavery in the 
District of Columbia or the Territories was an in- 
fringement of the rights of the States and a breach 
of the public faith; and that Congress had no right 
to discriminate between the institutions of the vari- 
ous portions of the Union. The fifth resolution de- 
clared that all attempts by Congress to abolish slavery 
in the District of Columbia or the Territories were in 
violation of the constitution and closed with the pro- 
vision that all petitions or papers relating in any way 
to slavery should be laid upon the table without be- 
ing debated, printed, or referred. 

The resolutions were divided and passed in eight 
sections. Chambers voted for six out of the eight. 
On the last vote, which concerned the tabling of peti- 
tions, a number of Southern members balked. Wise 
of Virginia denounced the entire series, declaring that 
they were not Southern measures. Upon the last 
proposition he stated that since it admitted the right 
of petition on that subject, he should refuse to vote 
for it. Mr. Jenifer of Maryland inquired if the af- 
firmation of the last proposition would not be identical 
with a virtual reception of all petitions on the aboli- 



230 JOHN CHAMBERS 

tion of slavery by the House. He was told by Speaker 
Polk that each gentleman must interpret for himself. 
Mr. Pope of Kentucky, who had voted for the first 
seven propositions asked to be excused from voting on 
the eighth on the ground that he did not wish to af- 
firm the reception of abolition petitions, and further, 
that it was inconsistent with the previous propositions. 
Any vote he could give, he said, would be miscon- 
strued. "On similar grounds to those of his col- 
league", says the Congressional Globe, Chambers also 
wished to be excused. The motions were refused, but 
none of these men voted. — See Congressional Globe, 
Twenty-fifth Congress. Third Session, 1838-1839. pp. 
22, 23, 25, 26; and Journal of House of Representa- 
tives, Twenty-fifth Congress. Third Session, 1838- 
1839, pp. 53-71. 

In a speech on a bill for civil and diplomatic ap- 
propriations, Mr. Pope digressed until called to order 
in an explanation of his views in favor of denying the 
right of petition on the subject of slavery. — Congres- 
sional Globe, Twenty-fifth Congress. Third Session. 
1838-1839, Appendix, p. 345. 

177 Birney's James G. Birney and his Times, pp. 166, 
167, 432. 

178 Niles' Register for November 24, 1838. contains 
a letter from Mahan to Governor Vance dated at 
Washington, Kentucky, on October 4, 1838. in which 
he speaks of his imprisonment at that place loaded 
with irons awaiting the time of trial. He denies hav- 
ing expressed any disapprobation of the action of 
Governor Vance, but declares himself innocent of the 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 231 

crime charged, not having been in Mason County for 
nineteen years. 

170 Birney 's James G. Birney and his Times, p. 340. 
The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. Ill, No. 98, 
October 10, 1838. See also in The Works of Henry 
Clay (Colton, Reid, McKinley edition), Vol. IV, p. 
430, a letter from Henry Clay to Francis Brooke, 
November 3, 1838. 

180 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. IV, No. 
6, November 21, 1838. This issue contains a good ac- 
count of the trial. It is made more widely accessible 
by being copied in Niles' Register for December 1, 
1838. Other mentions of the case are found in the 
issues of The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), for Oc- 
tober and November and in Niles 7 Register, Vol. LV, 
pp. 114, 164, 195. 

181 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. IV, No. 
6, November 21, 1838. William Henry Smith in his 
Political History of Slavery, Vol. I, p. 44, states that 
"the testimony against him related merely to acts 
done in Ohio, and was given by a single witness of 
disreputable character, who admitted on cross exami- 
nation that he had practiced a system of gross decep- 
tion." 

182 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. IV, No. 
6, November 21, 1838. 

183 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. VI, No. 
5, November 21, 1840. As a result, perhaps, of alarm 
felt in Kentucky over such instances as the Mahan 
case, James T. Morehead and J. Speed Smith were 



232 JOHN CHAMBERS 

sent by the State of Kentucky to Ohio for the purpose 
of procuring the passage of laws by the legislature of 
that State for the prevention of interference with the 
slave property of Kentucky by "evil disposed par- 
ties" in Ohio. Their mission undertaken in the early 
months of 1839 was reported as successful, a satis- 
factory law having passed the Ohio legislature. — The 
Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), February 9, 1839, 
and March 2, 1839. 

184 Journal of House of Representatives, Twenty- 
fifth Congress, Third Session, 1838-1839, p. 42. 

185 Quoted in The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), 
Vol. IV, No. 33, February 23, 1839. 

186 rp^ Q reen ]fa ver Qazette, quoted in The Mays- 
ville Eagle, Vol. XIX, No. 38, July 24, 1839. 

CHAPTEE IX 

187 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. IV, No. 
21, January 12, 1839. — See also the Autobiography 
of John Chambers, p. 23. 

188 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), July 10, 
August 28, and September 11, 1839. At the State 
Convention at Lexington on August 12, 1839, a State 
Silk Society was organized and a constitution drawn 
up. Chambers was appointed as chairman of a com- 
mittee of eight to bring before the State legislature at 
its next session a memorial urging the advantages of 
silk culture and asking State patronage in the way 
of bounties and protective laws. 

189 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly). Vol. IV, No. 
63, June 8, 1839. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 233 

190 The Maysville Eagle (weekly), Vol. XIX, No. 38, 
July 24, 1839. 

191 The State Convention met at Harrodsburg on 
August 26, 1839, with Thomas Metcalfe as President. 
Francis T. Chambers was a delegate from Mason 
County. The only two names balloted upon were 
Robert P. Letcher and William Owsley, the vote being 
48 to 26 in favor of the former. — The Maysville 
Eagle (semi weekly), September 4, 1839. 

192 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. IV, 
No. 81, August 10, 1839. 

193 In a speech delivered in February, 1839, in the 
United States Senate he supported a petition against 
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
and attacked the abolition movement with considerable 
vigor. — See Schurz's Henry Clay, Vol. II, pp. 165- 
169. 

194 The so-called National Convention of the Anti- 
Masonic party met at Philadelphia in November, 1838. 
and nominated Harrison and Webster. 

195 rpk e National Convention of the Whig party 
opened on December 4, 1839, at Harrisburg, Pennsyl- 
vania. For reasons of expediency it abandoned Henry 
Clay and nominated William Henry Harrison and 
John Tyler. 

196 This remark seems to have been made by a friend 
of Clay in commenting on the Harrisburg Convention 
and found its way to fame through the columns of 
the Baltimore Republican. 

197 The descendants of Governor Chambers tell of 



234 JOHN CHAMBERS 

a cut glass decanter which was presented by Henry 
Clay to John Chambers as a token of their friendship. 

198 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 23. Even 
as early as 1816 Harrison had found faithful support 
in matters of political import from his aids. In 
April of that year C. S. Todd wrote to Harrison in 
regard to the latter 's candidacy for Congress and 
mentions writing to Butler, Chambers, and Smith, 
conformably to the request of Harrison, asking them 
for statements as to their General's conduct at the 
Battle of the Thames. — See Manuscript letters from 
C. S. Todd to William Henry Harrison, April 23 and 
April 25, 1816.— Draper Mss. 5 X, Library of State 
Historical Society of Wisconsin. 

199 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. V, No. 
39, March 18, 1840. 

200 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. V, No. 
41, March 25, 1840. 

201 This meeting was held on March 23, 1840. Seven 
clubs were represented. — See The Maysville Eagle 
(semi weekly), Vol. V, No. 41, March 25, 1840. 

202 A detailed account of this celebration is most 
graphically given in The Maysville Eagle (semi 
weekly) for April 15, 1840. It is perhaps a fair sam- 
ple of the hundreds of Harrison celebrations held 
throughout the country but most pronounced in the 
West, where liquor flowed more freely than logic 
and more attention was paid to the needs of the 
stomach of the individual voter than to the needs of 
the country at large. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 235 

203 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. V, No. 
92, September 23, 1840. The reports of this celebra- 
tion were in the form of letters sent by Lewis Collins, 
the editor, who attended the meeting in Ohio. 

204 Mies' Register, Vol. LIX, p. 56, September 26, 
1840. 

205 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. V, No. 
95, October 3, 1840. At this celebration at Ripley, 
Francis Taylor, the brother-in-law of John Chambers, 
is reported to have presided and to have entertained 
General Harrison. — Notes in possession of Harry 
Brent Mackoy of Covington, Kentucky. 

206 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. V, No. 
100, October 21, 1840. 

CHAPTEE XI 

207 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 24. 

208 Letter from John J. Crittenden to R. P. Letcher, 
February 9, 1841. — See Coleman's Life of John J. 
Crittenden, Vol. I, pp. 143, 144. 

209 Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Vol. X, p. 416. 

210 John Quincy Adams mentions the announcement 
of cabinet appointments as early as February 12, 1841. 

211 Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Vol. X, p. 439. 

212 Richardson 's Messages and Papers of the Presi- 
dents, Vol. IV, pp. 5-21. 

213 McMaster's History of the People of the United 
States, Vol. VI, p. 600. From a letter written by 
Chambers to Crittenden on December 27, 1841, it ap- 



236 JOHN CHAMBERS 

pears that other changes were proposed by Webster 
which were not made, and that Webster and Cham- 
bers were involved in a somewhat bitter altercation 
as a result thereof. 

I have repeatedly thought of writing to Mr. Ewing to ask 
him to bear in recollection a conversation between that man 
[Webster] and myself at which he was present, but it was too 
marked and the language too strong to have been forgotten, 
it rea[l]ated to the proposed change or rather grew out of the 
proposed change of the Inaugural address. If he had been a 
man of the high toned feeling which became the station he was 
about to take he could not have accepted it after the language 
he used on the occasion alluded to — his subsequent conduct 
proved to me that he deeply resented the rebuff he received and 
the necessity he was under of retracting his expressions, while 
he must have felt conscious that his manner shewed anything 
but honest regret for what he had said. 

214 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. VI, No. 
41, March 27, 1841. 

215 The duties of private secretary were performed 
with the understanding that he was not to be formally 
appointed or known as such. — See Autobiography of 
John Chambers, pp. 24, 25. 

216 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 24. Cham- 
bers here makes the statement that he was urged by 
some of the cabinet not to accept the post in Iowa, 
but to remain in Washington, D. C. "But" says 
Chambers, ' ' I had upon very mature reflection come to 
the conclusion that the personal friend & confident of 
a President was by no means so enviable a position 
as was generally supposed, and that the very reputa- 
tion of occupying it was the certain means of creating 
unceasing & inveterate vituperation & slander." It 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 237 

is not improbable that the pressure from Cabinet mem- 
bers upon Chambers to remain at the Capital city 
arose from a desire to place some other party in the 
position in Iowa. N lies' Register for April 3, 1841, 
quotes the following from the National Intelligencer : 
Col. John Chambers, of Kentucky, it will be perceived, is 
officially announced as being appointed by the president to be 
governor of the territory of Iowa. It is understood that the 
president tendered to him an office of greater emolument at 
the seat of the general government, but he preferred the sta- 
tion to which he is appointed. 

217 According to the Organic Law of the Territory 
of Iowa, he was to be paid $1500 as Governor- of the 
Territory and $1000 additional as Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs. 

218 Bloomington [Iowa] Herald, Vol. I, No. 23, 
April 2, 1841. These candidates were Philip Viele 
and Joseph C. Hawkins. 

219 Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot, Vol. II, No. 40, 
March 4, 1841; Bloomington Herald, Vol. I, No. 23, 
April 2, 1841. 

220 Bloomington Herald, Vol. I, No. 29, May 14, 
1841. The story concerning Webster's candidate is 
quoted from the New Hampshire Patriot, published 
by Isaac Hill. The item also states that the nomina- 
tion was tabled by the Senate at the instigation of 
Daniel Webster. This may be the biased version due 
to the partisan gulf that separated Isaac Hill and 
Daniel Webster. A few months later General James 
Wilson was appointed Surveyor General of Iowa and 
Wisconsin. — See The Miners' Express (Dubuque), 
Vol. I, No. 8, September 25, 1841. 



238 JOHN CHAMBERS 

221 Letter from John J. Crittenden to Orlando 
Brown, January 17, 1841. — Coleman's Life of John 
J. Crittenden, Vol. I, pp. 138, 139. 

222 Letter from John J. Crittenden to R. P. Letcher, 
February 9, 1841. — Coleman's Life of John J. Crit- 
tenden, Vol. I, pp. 143, 144. 

223 Manuscript letter from Orlando Brown to John 
J. Crittenden, January 29, 1841. This letter is among 
the Crittenden manuscripts in the Manuscript De- 
partment of the Library of Congress, Washington, 
D. C. 

Orlando Brown was the son of John Brown, who 
represented the district of Kentucky in the Virginia 
legislature, served in the Congress of the Confedera- 
tion in 1787 and 1788 and in the First and Second 
Congresses under the Constitution, and was for many 
years United States Senator from Kentucky. 

224 Manuscript letter from R. P. Letcher to John 
J. Crittenden, February 26, 1841. This letter is 
among the Crittenden Manuscripts in the Manuscript 
Department of the Library of Congress, Washington, 
D. C. 

225 Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Vol. X, p. 444. 

226 Letter from John J. Crittenden to R. P. Letcher. 
March 14, 1841. — Coleman's Life of John J. Critten- 
den, Vol. I, p. 150. 

227 There have been carefully preserved four com- 
missions issued to John Chambers as Governor of the 
Territory of Iowa. The first is dated March 25, 1841. 
It is signed by Harrison and declared in force until 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 239 

the end of the next session of Congress. The second 
was issued by John Tyler on July 15, 1841, for a 
term of three years. On the second of July, 1844, 
John Tyler issued a new commission to extend to the 
close of the next session of Congress. December 23, 
1844, he renewed the commission for a term of three 
years. The appointments were in all cases, however, 
subject to termination at the pleasure of the Presi- 
dent and in 1845 President Polk removed Governor 
Chambers and appointed a Democrat in his place. 

228 Report of attending and consulting physicians, 
April 4, 1841. — Richardson's Messages and Papers of 
the Presidents, Vol. IV, p. 31. 

229 Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Vol. X, pp. 454, 
455. 

230 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 25. 

231 See note 164. 

232 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly) , Vol. VI, No. 
48, April 21, 1841. 

233 The Maysville Eagle (semi weekly), Vol. VI, No. 
52, May 5, 1841. 

CHAPTER X 

234 Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot (Burlington), Vol. 
II, No. 51, Thursday, May 20, 1841. 

235 Parish's Robert Lucas, pp. 168, 194, 209, 210, 
214. 

236 Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot (Burlington), Vol. 
II, No. 51, Thursday, May 20, 1841. 



240 JOHN CHAMBERS 

237 Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot (Burlington). Vol. 
II, No. 51. Thursday. May 20. 1841. 

238 Manuscript letter to Jesse Williams, May 13, 
1840 [1841] signed "The last half of the firm". This 
letter is among the unbound Jesse Williams manu- 
scripts in the Historical Department, Des Moines. 
Iowa. The writer of this letter comments: "The 
Gov. I think is a pretty decent old fellow, and will 
manage things well enough if the Whigs will but 
leave him alone." The negroes who are here men- 
tioned were probably Uncle Cassius. a dignified old 
body servant, and "Cary" Bennett, a young darkey 
whose mother had been a slave in the family. It is 
likely that Governor Chambers upon his arrival in 
Iowa gave them their freedom. Miss Mary Cham- 
bers, of Louisville, Kentucky, who accompanied her 
father Joseph Sprigg Chambers to Iowa in the spring 
of 1842, says that Cary remained in the Territory 
when the Governor returned to Kentucky; while 
Uncle Cassius moved back, doubtless because of af- 
fection for his old master. 

239 As early as the time of Desha 's trial he com- 
plained of ill health. In 1835 he refused for this 
reason a position on the Court of Appeals; and his 
letters during the last dozen years of his life give 
abundant indication that he suffered greatly at times. 

240 The statements as to the height of John Cham- 
bers, given by those who knew him vary with a great- 
ness that is but an indication of the frailty of human 
memory. Some have said that he was a man of about 
six feet in height. William Penn Clarke, who knew 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 241 

him in Iowa, limits him to five feet, five inches, while 
Alfred Hebard described him as of medium height. 

241 Letter from Samuel W. Durham to William 
Penn Clarke, February 14, 1894, printed in Clarke's 
Governor John Chambers in the Annals of Iowa 
(Third Series), Vol. I, No. 6, p. 444, July, 1894. 

242 Almost the only letters of John Chambers (with 
the exception of those written as Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs for the Territory of Iowa) of which 
the writer has knowledge are family letters, mostly 
written to and from his children and bearing dates 
from 1828 to 1852. These letters have been preserved 
by various of the descendants and are invaluable in 
giving an insight into the domestic nature and habits 
of Chambers. It is evident from the letters from his 
children that his fondness for them was returned by 
strong affection on their part. 

243 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. 40, 41. 

244 The fact that Chambers took none of his children 
with him on the journey to Iowa in 1841 is abundant- 
ly proved by the letters written by various members 
of the family in the years 1841 and 1842. In nu- 
merous instances the letters close with a message of 
''love to our dear father, Aunt, uncle and cousins'' 
or similar greeting — referring of course to the Stull 
family. But in none of the letters prior to his visit 
to Kentucky in the spring of 1842 is there a message 
sent to any brother or sister, a rather strong evidence 
if none other existed, that there was no brother or 
sister in Iowa at that time. However, specific refer- 
ences in letters to each of ten living sons and daugh- 

16 



242 JOHN CHAMBERS 

ters prove them all to have been in Kentucky during 
the first year of the administration of Governor Cham- 
bers. 

245 Manuscript letter to Jesse Williams, May 13. 
1840 [1841], cited above, note 238. 

246 Shambaugh 's Executive Journal of Iowa, 1838- 
1841, p. 278. 

247 Manuscript letter to Jesse Williams, May 13, 
1840 [1841], cited above, note 238. 

248 Governor Lucas, upon receipt of Webster 's letter, 
answered expressing his surprise that he had not re- 
ceived any notice from Washington during the months 
intervening since the appointment of his successor 
and that he had received no communication from Gov- 
ernor Chambers. This letter is printed in Sham- 
baugh 's Executive Journal of Iowa, 1838-1841, pp. 
277-279. 

249 See above, note 213. 

250 rp^-g vers j on j s told in the New Hampshire Pa- 
triot and quoted in the Bloomington [Iowa] Herald, 
Vol. I, No. 29, May 14, 1841. See above, note 220. 

251 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to John 
J. Crittenden, December 27, 1841. — Crittenden Manu- 
scripts, Manuscript Department, Library of Congress, 
Washington, D. C. 

252 This building is still standing in good condition 
and is generally known as the Old Stone Capitol. It 
is used by The State L^niversity of Iowa, largely as an 
administration building. The corner stone was laid 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 243 

in 1840, upon which occasion an address was deliv- 
ered by Governor Robert Lucas. 

253 rphjg proclamation is given in Shambaugh 's Ex- 
ecutive Journal of Iowa, 1838-1841, p. 275. It created 
considerable comment in the Territory, being attacked 
fiercely by the Whig press as premature and without 
authority since Chambers had already received his 
commission. The latter argument at least was with- 
out basis since it was unquestionably the duty of 
Lucas to act as Governor until the arrival of his suc- 
cessor. The wisdom of the proclamation is perhaps 
open to question. 

254 Manuscript letter from Bernhart Henn to Jesse 
Williams, June 20, 1841. — Jesse Williams Manu- 
scripts, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

255 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to John 
J. Crittenden, December 27, 1841. — Crittenden Manu- 
scripts, Manuscript Department, Library of Congress, 
Washington, D. C. 

CHAPTER XII 

256 Q r ganic Act of the Territory of Iowa, sections 2 
and 11. 

257 Iowa Standard (Iowa City), Vol. I, No. 29, June 
10, 1841. This paper, a Whig sheet, reports the meet- 
ing of the Democratic convention and upholds the 
leaders who had received the denunciation of the 
Democrats. 

258 rpj^ f ee }j n g was i ess a S pi r it of partisanship than 
a result of local pride and ambition. It was in evi- 



244 JOHN CHAMBERS 

dence at various times during the administrations of 
both Lucas and Chambers. 

259 The discussion of this dispute is perhaps taken 
up most exhaustively in Pelzer's Augustus Caesar 
Dodge and Parish's Robert Lucas. More brief ac- 
counts are given in various issues of the Annals of 
Iowa and the Iowa Historical Record and in other 
historical works dealing with the history of the Ter- 
ritory of Iowa. 

260 Parish's Robert Lucas, pp. 245, 246. 

261 The letter from Reynolds to Chambers, dated 
November 10, 1841, and the reply written ten days 
later were submitted to the legislature in connection 
with his first annual message. Chambers made no 
recommendation in regard to the matter and no action 
was taken. — See Shambaugh's Messages and Procla- 
mations of the Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 257-261. 

262 This building was erected by Walter Butler at 
his own expense with the understanding that he was 
to be reimbursed by the citizens of Iowa City. It was 
occupied until the Stone Capitol was ready for the 
accommodation of the legislature, but the public spirit- 
ed Mr. Butler is said never to have received compen- 
sation for his outlay. 

263 Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 251. 

264 Laws of the Territory of Iowa (extra session), 
July, 1840, p. 46. 

265 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to J. J. 
Crittenden, December 27, 1841. — Crittenden Manu- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 245 

scripts, Manuscript Department, Library of Congress, 
Washington, D. C. 

206 Laws of the Territory of Iowa, 1841-1842, p. 70. 

267 The best discussion of the entire movement to- 
ward Statehood is given in Shambaugh's History of 
the Constitutions of Iowa. 

268 Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 289, 290. 

269 rpj^ a pp i n t ee f the legislature to this proposed 
office seems to have been Walter Butler, who had pro- 
vided the temporary building for the use of the leg- 
islature at this session. — See the Iowa Standard, Vol. 
II. No. 11, February 12, 1842. 

270 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to J. J. 
Crittenden, December 27, 1841. — Crittenden Manu- 
scripts, Manuscript Department, Library of Congress, 
Washington, D. C. 

271 Manuscript letters from John Chambers to John 

C. Spencer, February 1, 1842, and from John Cham- 
bers to T. Hartley Crawford, March 19, 1842.— Manu- 
script volumes of letters of Governors of Territory of 
Iowa on Indian Affairs, Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. The law required the Superintendents 
of Indian Affairs to procure sanction from the United 
States government for all absences. 

272 Manuscript letter from Acting Governor Stull 
to T. Hartley Crawford, April 2, 1842, Office of In- 
dian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, 

D. C. 

273 Several letters by Stull are on file in the Office 



246 JOHN CHAMBERS 

of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

274 The date of the return of Chambers is unknown, 
but there is on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, De- 
partment of the Interior, Washington, D. C, a letter 
written by Chambers at Burlington, on May 13, 1842. 

275 It is possible that Mary and Laura Chambers 
also accompanied their father at this time. This had 
been the plan, and for several months they had been 
looking forward to it with considerable eagerness. 
However, it seems more probable that John James 
and Henry, who had not hitherto planned to go, were 
taken in their place and that they came out at some 
later time. It is certain from the family letters, which 
give fragmentary information on these points, that 
the two girls were in Iowa in the winter of 1843 to 
1844. 

276 See Hebard's An Indian Treaty and its Negotia- 
tion in the Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. I, No. 
5, April, 1894, p. 398. 

277 Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 262. 

278 Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 266. 

279 Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 268. 

280 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to John 
James and Henry Chambers, December 9, 1842, found 
in the possession of Mrs. Henry Chambers of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 247 

281 Laws of the Territory of Iowa, 1842-1843, p. 82. 

282 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 292. 

283 Manuscript letter from M. T. Williams to Jesse 
Williams, July 16, 1843. — Jesse Williams Manuscripts, 
Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

JS4 The Davenport Gazette, Vol. Ill, No. 12, Novem- 
ber 9, 1843. 

285 WiHi ams was appointed Secretary of the Terri- 
tory in 1845 by President Polk and served for some 
time before the removal of Governor Chambers. 

286 Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 271. 

287 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 271. 

288 Journal of the Council of the Territory of Iowa, 
1843-1844, pp. 46, 49. 

289 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 275. 

290 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to John 
James and Henry Chambers, December 25, 1843, 
found in the possession of Mrs. Henry Chambers, 
Louisville, Kentucky. 

291 The presence of Mary and Laura at Grouseland 
this winter is indicated by the letter of John Cham- 
bers to the two boys on Christmas day, written from 
Iowa City. He speaks of hearing from Mary that 
the boys were employing the long winter nights in 
reading and study and he closes by sending love to 
"your sisters Mary and Laura." 



248 JOHN CHAMBERS 

CHAPTEE XIII 

292 An excellent treatment of the proceedings of 
this convention is given in Shambaugh's History of 
the Constitutions of Iowa, pp. 175-227. A great deal 
of valuable material is also included in Shambaugh's 
Fragments of the Debates of the Iowa Constitutional 
Conventions of 1844 and 1846. 

293 Hawk-Eye (Burlington), Vol. VI, No. 8, July 
18, 1844. 

294 Hawk-Eye (Burlington), Vol. VI, No. 8, July 
18, 1844. 

295 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 41. John 
Chambers after the record of his death writes : ' ' Thus 
ended one of the most amiable noble boys of his race." 

296 Manuscript letters from Matilda Chambers Brent 
to John Chambers, November 9, 1844, and from Laura 
Chambers to John Chambers, November 4, 1844, 
found in the possession of Mrs. Hannah Chambers 
Forman of Chicago. 

297 This manuscript petition is in a miscellaneous, 
unbound manuscript collection at the Historical De- 
partment, Des Moines, Iowa. 

298 The account of the Missouri-Iowa boundary dis- 
pute, from the standpoint of its consideration in Con- 
gress, is well told in Pelzer's Augustus Caesar Dodge, 
Chapter VI. 

299 United States Statutes at Large, Vol. V, p. 677 

300 j n kj s f our th annual message to the Legislative 
Assembly read on May 8, 1845, Governor Chambers 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 249 

discusses the incident of the arrest of Linder and 
Mullinix and the situation on the border line, and ap- 
pends a copy of the letter which he had written on 
April 19, to Governor Edwards of Missouri. — See 
Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the Gov- 
ernors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 278-288. 

301 Probably the greatest political blunder in the 
life of Augustus Caesar Dodge was his open let- 
ter advising the people of Iowa to accept the Nicol- 
let Boundaries as prescribed by Congress and assur- 
ing them that not another square mile of territory 
could be obtained. — See Pelzer 's Augustus Caesar 
Dodge, pp. 116-119. 

302 Among the prominent Democrats who took the 
stump against the adoption of the Constitution, be- 
cause of the boundaries prescribed by Congress, were 
Theodore S. Parvin, Enoch W. Eastman, and Shep- 
herd Leffler who had been president of the convention 
which drew it up. 

303 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 279, 280. 

304 Constitution of 1844, Art. XIII, Sec. 6. 

305 United States Statutes at Large, Vol. V, p. 742. 

306 Laws of the Territory of Iowa, 1845, p. 31. 

307 Journal of House of Representatives of the Ter- 
ritory of Iowa, 1845, p. 167. 

308 Shambaagh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 296. 

309 rp^-g stor y j s to ld i n a sketch entitled Governor 



250 JOHN CHAMBERS 

John Chambers written by William Penn Clarke and 
published in the Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. 
I, No. 6, July, 1894, p. 425. It consists largely of let- 
ters from Chambers to Clarke, the remaining material 
being little more than an explanation of the letters. 
The letters themselves contain valuable information, 
but the accompanying material is full of mistakes. 
One of the letters printed, under date of August 7, 
1850, is not by John Chambers as it purports, but by 
an entirely different man, named M. Chambers, as an 
examination of the original among the correspondence 
of William Penn Clarke in the Historical Department 
at Des Moines clearly shows. By a curious mistake, 
too, a photograph, probably of Judge John Chambers 
of New York is reproduced in this article as a like- 
ness of Governor John Chambers in his earlier years. 
Clarke seems to have edited the letters somewhat 
carelessly and to have relied too much on his memory 
for events of the administration of Chambers. 

310 Shambaugh's History of the Constitutions of 
Iowa, p. 283. 

311 Manuscript letters from Ralph P. Lowe to Wil- 
liam Penn Clarke. May 26, 1845, and from Timothy 
Davis to William Penn Clarke. — Correspondence of 
William Penn Clarke, Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. 

312 Pelzer's Augustus Caesar Dodge, pp. 121, 122. 

313 Manuscript letter from Mary Chambers to John 
Chambers, April 17, 1845, found in possession of Mrs. 
Hannah Chambers Forman of Chicago. 

314 James Clarke, the last of the Territorial Gover- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 251 

nors, was born in Pennsylvania and migrated from 
there to Missouri, then to Wisconsin, and finally to 
Burlington before the Territory of Iowa was organ- 
ized. He was, therefore, less of an "importation" 
than either of his predecessors in office. 

315 This letter is published by William Penn Clarke 
in his sketch of Governor John Chambers in the An- 
nals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. I, No. 6, July, 1894, 
pp. 433, 434. 

316 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Wil- 
liam Penn Clarke, October 29, 1845. — Correspondence 
of William Penn Clarke, Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. 

317 In the Family Record kept by John Chambers, 
and published with the Autobiography he makes the 
following entry: "Octr. 20th 1845 — Removed from 
office by President Polk, to make room for a political 
partizan. Let it be remembered that this removal 
from office was made without the imputation of im- 
proper conduct or of neglect of duty, or other cause 
assigned." In his Autobiography Chambers asserts 
that the removal probably saved his life since his 
health would not have withstood further performance 
of his laborious duties. He makes the following com- 
ment upon Polk: "I knew the man personally — he 
was a third rate statesman, a sprightly county court 
lawyer and an unscrupulous partizan. — Peace be to 
his ashes." — See Autobiography of John Chambers, 
pp. 38, 25. 

Back in the thirties when Chambers represented 
Kentucky in the lower house of Congress, James K. 



252 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Polk was Speaker of that body during the entire 
length of service of Chambers. 

CHAPTEE XIV 

318 The sources of information concerning the In- 
dians in Iowa are numerous. Of the manuscript mate- 
rials the most valuable are of course at Washington, 
D. C, in the Office of Indian Affairs, Department of 
the Interior. Another important collection is at the 
Historical Department at Des Moines, Iowa, where 
three large manuscript volumes contain letters writ- 
ten by Governors Lucas, Chambers and Clarke on In- 
dian Affairs. These letters were secured from the 
records at Washington and do not include by any 
means all of the correspondence of these officials with 
the United States government. Of the office record 
books of Governor Chambers, all that has been pre- 
served is a section of about forty pages of a manu- 
script record book in which evidently were entered 
copies of letters on Indian Affairs. The letters in 
this section are dated from May 5 to July 11, 1845. 
There was found, in the possession of Mrs. Henry 
Chambers of Louisville, Kentucky, a series of vouch- 
ers and statements of accounts kept by John Cham- 
bers with regard to Indian negotiations. These give 
some helpful incidental information. In the Archives 
of the Offices of Governor and Secretary of State at 
Des Moines, Iowa, are a few valuable manuscripts on 
Indian Affairs. The newspapers of the time con- 
tained some material. Access was had to a collection 
of extracts from Territorial newspapers compiled by 
Professor Benj. P. Shambaugh in preparation for a 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 253 

documentary history of political parties in Iowa. In- 
formation is to be gleaned from the official reports of 
the Office of Indian Affairs of the United States gov- 
ernment, from Executive Documents, Richardson's 
Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Kappler's In- 
dian Affairs, Shambaugh's Messages and Proclama- 
tions of the Governors of Iowa, and from the Laws 
and Journals of the Territory of Iowa. 

Of a secondary nature, Fulton's The Red Men of 
Iowa is the most extensive treatment. Articles and 
monographs of varying importance are to be found in 
the Annals of Iowa, in the Iowa Historical Record, 
in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics, in the 
Minnesota Historical Society Publications, and in 
many other publications of the Upper Mississippi 
Valley. 

319 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
250. 

320 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
305. 

321 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), pp. 
345, 498. 

322 Stevens's The Black Hawk War. Also Life of 
Black Hawk (dictated by himself). 

323 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
349. 

324 Fulton's The Red Men of Iowa, pp. 241, 242. 

325 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
474. 



254 JOHN CHAMBERS 

320 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
495. 

327 General Street had been an Indian Agent for the 
United States government since 1828 when he was 
located at Prairie du Chien. He located the Agency 
near the Des Moines River in 1838 and moved to the 
new location in the spring of 1839. His death occur- 
red in May 1840. Previous to his career as Indian 
Agent he had been prominent as an editor in Ken- 
tucky. — See Street's General Joseph M. Street in the 
Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. II, No. 2-3, July- 
October, 1895, p. 81. 

328 See Autobiography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro 
in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 
Vol. VI, pp. 189-255. 

329 See manuscript letter from Stephen Cooper (In- 
dian sub-agent) to John Chambers, September 2, 1841. 
— Manuscript Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical 
Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

380 James MacGregor was sub-agent at this place 
for some time, being succeeded by Jonathan E. 
Fletcher in 1845. A number of letters to these men 
are copied in the fragment of the record book of Gov- 
ernor Chambers, mentioned in note 318. See also 
Price's The Conquest of Sodom in the Annals of Iowa, 
Vol. VIII, No. 4. October 1870, p. 309. 

331 Chittenden's The American Fur Trade of the 
Far West, Vol. I, pp. 382-384. See also Fulton's The 
Red Men of Iowa, pp. 358-360. 

332 Fulton's The Bed Men of Iowa, pp. 359-360. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 255 

333 Fulton's The Red Men of Iowa, pp. 359-360. Mr. 
Eddy appears to have moved over from Burlington 
and engaged in the trading business with the hearty 
concurrence of Governor Lucas. His post was situat- 
ed at the " upper village" where Hardnsh's band 
lived. 

334 Annual report of Robert Lucas, Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, to the United States government, 
October 23, 1840 — Manuscript Volume on Indian Af- 
fairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. See 
also Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot (Burlington), Vol. 
I, No. 35, January 30, 1840. 

335 Annual report of Robert Lucas, Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, to the United States government, 
October 23, 1840. — Manuscript Volumes on Indian 
Affairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 
The petition of Keokuk's band was signed by 503 
persons. Lucas had an interpreter confer with the 
Indians and ascertained that in 356 cases out of the 
503 the signatures were spurious or made in ignorance 
of the contents of the petition, or were affixed by 
women, children, or Missourians. A census was taken 
in the summer of 1840 by direction of Hardfish and 
the chiefs of his band. The result was an enumera- 
tion of a little over 350 families, listed by name and 
giving the number in each family. It included both 
Sac and Fox Indians but excluded the lodges of the 
followers of Keokuk, Poweshiek, Wapello, and Appa- 
noose. A copy of this enumeration is found among 
the Archives of the Office of Secretary of State, Des 
Moines. IoAva. 



256 JOHN CHAMBERS 

336 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 149. 

337 Annual report of Robert Lucas, Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, to the United States government, 
October 23, 1840. — Manuscript Volumes on Indian 
Affairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

338 Annual report of Robert Lucas, Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, to the United States government, 
October 23, 1840. — Manuscript Volumes on Indian 
Affairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

339 Manuscript letter from Robert Lucas to T. Hart- 
ley Crawford, February 18, 1841, Office of Indian Af- 
fairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

340 Manuscript letters from John Beach to T. Hart- 
ley Crawford, February 2 and 19, 1841, Office of In- 
dian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

341 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to John 
Bell, May 17, 1841, Office of Indian Affairs, Depart- 
ment of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

342 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, May 24, 1841, Office of Indian 
Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

343 T^g vouchers of Governor Chambers for the ex- 
penses of this trip are to be found in a collection of 
financial letters and accounts in the possession of 
Mrs. Henry Chambers of Louisville, Kentucky. 

344 See manuscript letter from John Chambers to 
T. Hartley Crawford, July 27, 1841, Office of Indian 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 257 

Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 
Chambers enclosed with this letter the letter from 
Beach and the proceedings of the council with the 
Indians. 

345 See manuscript letter from John Chambers to D. 
Kurtz, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Sep- 
tember 25, 1841. — Manuscript Volumes on Indian Af- 
fairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

346 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, October 24, 1841, Office of Indian 
Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

347 The minutes of this negotiation were kept by 
James W. Grimes, Secretary of the Commission, and 
are preserved in the Office of Indian Affairs, Depart- 
ment of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

348 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, October 24, 1841, Office of Indian 
Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

349 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 254. 

350 Manuscript letter from John Beach to John 
Chambers, February 26, 1842, Office of Indian Affairs, 
Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

351 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, March 12, 1842, Office of Indian 
Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

352 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, May 13, 1842, Office of Indian Af- 
fairs, Department of Interior, Washington, D. C. 

17 



258 JOHN CHAMBERS 

Chambers enclosed with his letter the statement from 
Beach which showed the firm of Pierre Chouteau Jr. 
and Company to be a creditor for over $87,000, while 
the debts due J. P. Eddy and Company and W. G. 
and G. W. Ewing amounted respectively to a little 
more than $50,000 and a little less than $72,000. 

353 Manuscript letters from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, July 16 and 23, 1842, Office of 
Indian Affairs, Department of Interior, Washington. 
D. C. 

354 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, September 17, 1842. — Manuscript 
Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

355 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, September 17, 1842. — Manuscript 
Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

356 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, September 17, 1842. — Manuscript 
Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

357 Manuscript letter from John Chambers ' ' To the 
Officer commanding at Fort Atkinson Iowa Terri- 
tory", September 16, 1842. — Manuscript Volumes on 
Indian Affairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, 
Iowa. 

358 The detailed report of the investigating agents 
was transmitted to Commissioner Crawford by Cham- 
bers together with a letter dated November 22, 1842. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 259 

It is on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, Department 
of Interior, Washington, D. C. The report contains 
an interesting discussion of the most noteworthy of 
the claims and a schedule showing the sums claimed 
and allowed in each individual case. The traders who 
received the most severe censure were Peter and Wil- 
liam Avery whose claim of $6284.73 was repudiated 
by the Indians and rejected entirely. The investi- 
gating agents were of the opinion also from the ex- 
amination of witnesses that these men had also sold 
liquor to the Indians. They had built their trading 
house upon the line of the Indian country and were 
trading without a license. 

359 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, February 24, 1843. — Manuscript 
Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical Department. 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

360 An excellent article on the Treaty of 1842 is 
written by Alfred Hebard who, as investigating agent 
of the traders' claims, was of course present at the 
negotiations. It appears under the title An Indian 
Treaty and its Negotiation in the Annals of Iowa. 
Third Series, Vol. I, No. 5, April, 1894, p. 397. 

361 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
546. 

362 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 265. 

363 Revised Statutes of the Territory of Iowa, 1843. 
p. 292. 

364 Hawk-Eye, Vol. V, No. 1, August 10, 1843. 



260 JOHN CHAMBERS 

365 These Indians located upon lands in what is now 
Kansas, but they were not satisfied. Many sickened 
and died. Others, homesick for their haunts on the 
rivers of Iowa, trailed back to the State of Iowa in the 
fifties and purchased land upon which they settled. 
The Meskwaki Indians living in Tama County are a 
remnant of the Foxes who drifted back from the 
southwest to the land of their early home. — See 
Ward's Meskwakia and The Meskwaki People of To- 
day in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics for 
April, 1906, pp. 179-189 and 190-219. 

see Hughes 's Treaties of Traverse des Sioux in the 
Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. 
X, Part I, pp. 101-129. In the latter part of this ar- 
ticle are reprinted several valuable newspaper com- 
ments upon the treaty negotiated by Governor Doty, 
among others being one from the Burlington Hawk- 
Eye. 

367 See a communication to President Polk from 
John Bell, Secretary of War, printed in Richardson's 
Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. IV, pp. 
59-63. 

368 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 272. See also the Auto- 
biography of John Chambers, p. 38. 

369 Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 284. 

370 Annual report of John Chambers, Superintend- 
ent of Indian Affairs, to the United States govern- 
ment, September 28, 1845. — Manuscript Volumes on 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 261 

Indian Affairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, 
Iowa. 

371 Kappler's Indian Affairs, Vol. II (Treaties), p. 
565. 

372 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to T. 
Hartley Crawford, February 24, 1843. — Manuscript 
Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

373 Annual report of John Chambers, Superintend- 
ent of Indian Affairs, to the United States govern- 
ment, September 27, 1843. — Manuscript Volumes on 
Indian Affairs, Historical Department, Des Moines, 
Iowa. 

374 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Au- 
gustus Caesar Dodge, February 26, 1844. — Manu- 
script Volumes on Indian Affairs, Historical Depart- 
ment, Des Moines, Iowa. 

CHAPTEE XV 

375 The Maysville Eagle (tri weekly), Vol. XI, No. 
10, November 22, 1845. 

376 Clarke's Governor John Chambers in Annals of 
Iowa, Vol. I, No. 6, July, 1894, p. 436. 

377 Clarke's Governor John Chambers in Annals of 
Iowa, Vol. I, No. 6, July, 1894, p. 437. 

378 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Wil- 
liam Penn Clarke, June 19, 1845 [6]. — Correspond- 
ence of William Penn Clarke, Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. See also Niles' Register, Vol. 70, p. 
312, July 18, 1846. 



262 JOHN CHAMBERS 

379 Clarke's Governor John Chambers in Annals of 
Iowa, Vol. I, No. 6, July, 1894, p. 439. 

380 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Wil- 
liam Penn Clarke, June 19, 1845 [6]. — Correspond- 
ence of William Penn Clarke, Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

381 Clarke's Governor John Chambers in Annals of 
Iowa, Vol. I, No. 6, July, 1894, p. 439. 

382 The Maysville Eagle (tri weekly), Vol. XII, No. 
48, February 20, 1847. 

383 These letters were found in the possession of 
Mrs. Henry Chambers of Louisville, Kentucky. 

384 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Henry 
Chambers, April 19, 1849. 

385 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. 40, 41. 

386 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Henry 
Chambers, September 11, 1849. 

387 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Frank 
Chambers, October 1, 1849, found in possession of 
Mrs. Henry Chambers of Louisville, Kentucky. Also 
manuscript letter from John Chambers to Henry 
Chambers, October 8, 1849. 

388 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Mrs. 
Matilda Chambers Brent, October 28, 1850, found in 
the possession of Mrs. F. F. Woodall. 

389 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Mrs. 
Jane Chambers Forman, December 16, 1835, found in 
the possession of Mrs. H. C. Forman of Chicago. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 263 

390 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Henry- 
Chambers, May 11, 1851. 

391 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Mrs. 
Jane Chambers Forman, June 19, 1851, found in 
possession of Mrs. H. C. Forman of Chicago. 

392 Manuscript letter from John Chambers to Henry- 
Chambers, December 5, 1851. 

393 Autobiography of John Chambers, pp. viii, ix. 

394 Autobiography of John Chambers, p. 41. 



INDEX 



265 



INDEX 



Abolitionists, in campaign of 1840, 
97 

Absalom, David's grief for, 56 

Acheson, Frederick, arrest of, 149 

Adair County (Missouri), 148 

Adams, John Quincy, candidacy of, 
for President, 65 ; toasts to, 66 ; 
defeat of, in Kentucky, 68; man- 
ner of, 69 ; opposition of, to re- 
jection of slavery petitions, 88, 
89; quotation from, 226; change 
of feeling toward, 227; Memoirs 
of, 228 

Adrien, Monsieur, sleight of hand 
periormance of, 111 

Agencv City (Iowa), site of early 
Indian agencv, 166 

Algonquin family, tribes of, 162, 
163 

Alleghanies, 98 

Allen, Chilton, in legislature, 30; 
prominent in Anti-Relief Party, 
45 

Allen, John, 208 

Allen, William, arraignment of, by 
Chambers, 104 

American Fur Companv. 167, 170, 
171 

American Nation, story of, 1 

Annuities, payment of, to Indians, 
169, 170, 173, 174, 175 

Anti-Masons, support of, 96, 97; 
nominations of, in campaign of 
1838, 233 

Anti-Relief Party, composition of, 
44, 45 

Antrim County (Ulster, Ireland), 2 

Appanoose, annuities paid to, 169; 
proposes cession of land, 178 ; 
reference to, 255 

Arkansas, slavery in, 86 

Armstrong, John, 212 

Atherton, Charles G., 229 

Atherton gag, passage of, 229 

Atlantic Ocean, 1, 2 

Augusta (Kentucky), removal of 
Rowland Chambers to, 15; refer- 
ence to, 17 

Autobiography of John Chambers, 
quotations from, 14, 19 ; writing 
of, 201, 202, 205 

Avery, William and Peter, claim of, 
as Indian creditors, 259 



Badger, G. E., appointment of, as 
Secretary of the Navy, 107 

Baker, Francis, murder of, 48 ; 
friends and relatives of, 50, 52, 
60; evidence concerning, 51; 
body of, discovered, 52 

Ball, Elismon, evidence concerning, 
in Desha trial, 51; body of Baker 
found by, 52 ; testimony of, im- 
peached, 56; death of, 62 

Ball, Milton, evidence concerning, in 
Desha trial, 51; body of Baker 
found by, 52 ; testimony of, im- 
peached, 56 

Ballengall, David, removal of, from 
office, 30, 31 

Baltimore Patriot, quotation from, 
92 

Bank Act, Independent, 41 

Bank of Kentucky, notes of, 41, 42 ; 
capital stock of, 42, 72 ; accept- 
ance of notes by, 43 ; reference 
to, 214 

Bank of the Commonwealth (Ken- 
tuckv), organization of, 42, 43 

Bank of the United States, notes 
of, 41 ; denunciation of, 47 ; ref- 
erence to, 80, 214 

Barry, William T., prominent in 
Relief party, 44; appointment of, 
as Chief Justice of New Court of 
Appeals, 45 ; appointment of, as 
Secretary of State of Kentucky, 
45, 46, 49 ; counsel in Desha 
trial, 49 ; prominence of, 50 ; ar- 
gument of, in Desha trial, 52, 
53, 54; gift of speech of, 56; 
reply of Chambers to, 57, 59; not 
retained in second Desha trial, 
61; Jackson supported by, 66; 
candidacy of, for Governor, 66 ; 
defeat of, 68; reference to, 118 

Ba3 r ley, Mr., employed in second 
Desha trial, 61 

Beach, John, appointment of, as 
Indian Agent, 166, 170; nego- 
tiations of, with Indians, 170, 
171; correspondence of, 172; 
council held by, 173 ; Indians 
propose land cession to, 178; 
shot in effigy, 179 ; chiefs assem- 
bled by, 181 ; tent for council 
prepared by, 183 



267 



268 



INDEX 



Beattv, Adam, law cases of, 22; 
Old Court defended by, 46; call 
upon, for candidacy, 67; candi- 
dacy of, for Congress, 80 ; friend- 
ship of Chambers for, 224 

Bell, John, appointment of, as Sec- 
retary of War, 107; letter of 
Chambers to, 171 

Bennett, "Cary", negro belonging 
to Chambers, 240 

Bennett, Colonel, 118 

Bibb, George M., member of Relief 
Party, 44 

Big Sandy River. 11 

Big Sioux River, 164 

Black Hawk, early home of, 164; 
war precipitated by, 165 ; sup- 
planted by Keokuk, 166; fac- 
tional spirit outlives, 168 ; sons 
of, 174 

Black Hawk Purchase, 165, 166 

Black Hawk War, 165, 168 

Blair, Francis P., secures records 
of Court of Appeals, 46 ; Jackson 
supported by, 66 

Blair r. Williams, case of, 215 

Bloomington (Muscatine, Iowa), 
Gregory a prisoner at, 130 

Blue Earth River, 175 

Blue Lick hills, 25 

Boone, Daniel, time of, 7; Wilder- 
ness Road of, 10, 207 

Boundaries of Iowa, 129, 130, 140, 
147-152 

Bourbon County (Kentucky), 77 

Bowie, Barbara, 209 

Boyle, John. Judge of Kentucky 
Court of Appeals. 43, 46 

Bracken County (Kentucky). 17 

Breathitt. John, vote for, 219 

Brent. Charles Scott, marriage of, 
to Matilda Chambers, 77 ; refer- 
ence to, 191, 223 

Brent. Charles S., Mrs. (Matilda 
Chambers), marriage of, 77; ref- 
erence to, 78 ; death of daughter 
of, 198; death of John Chambers 
at home of, 202 

Brent, Hugh Innes, 191; marriage 
of, 223 

Bridgman, Arthur, appointment of, 
as investigating agent, 181 

Bromlev Bridge (New Jersev), mills 

at, 4, 5 
Brooke, Francis, letter of Henry 

Clay to, 231 
Brown. Henry O., grants new trial 
to Desha, *62; criticism of acts 
of, 218 
Brown, John, political positions of, 

238 
Brown, Orlando, candidacy of, for 



Governor of Iowa, 110-112; let- 
ter of, 110, 111; father of, 238 

Brown, William, counsel in defense 
of Desha, 50 ; address of, 52; 
emploved in second Desha trial, 
61 

Brownson and Irvin, Chambers 
clerks in store of, 15 

Bruce, Amos J., Indian Agent in 
Iowa, 167; Chambers communi- 
cates with, 180 

Burlington (Iowa), Chambers ar- 
rives at, 114, 115; reference to, 
122, 125, 135; home of Cham- 
bers near, 136; meeting of 
Whigs at, 144, 145 ; reference 
to, 160, 171, 176, 191 

Burnt Mills, rise of name of, 5 

Burr, Samuel J., appointment of, 
as Secretary, 139 

Butler, Mr., 234 

Butler, Walter, building erected by, 
244, 245 

Butler's Capitol, meeting of legisla- 
ture in, 131 

Cactus River, 140 

Calhoun, John C, distrust of, 69 r 
87: presence of, at Harrison din- 
ner, 112 

Cambreleng, C. C, speech of, 83 

Cameron, Scotch clan of, 2 

Camp Seneca, Harrison at, 33, 34 

Canada, invasion of, 30; escape of 
slfivcs to 91 

Capitol. Old Stone, at Iowa City, 
meeting of Constitutional Conven- 
tion in, 143 ; reference to, 242 

Carnegie Institution, officials of, xi 

Cassius, Uncle, comes to Iowa with 
Chambers, 240 

Cedar Hill, home of Chambers at, 
i, 24. 25. 26: Mrs. Chambers at, 
70; family of Chambers at, 84; 
hospitality at, 120: reference to, 
142 : John Cnambers buried near r 
202: present owner of, 210 

Chambers, Elizabeth, migration of, 
from Ireland. 2 

Chambers, Francis Taylor, assists 
in defense of Mahan, 91; speech 
of, 104: John Chambers visits, 
197; acts as delegate to State 
convention. 233 

Chambers, Hannah (Mrs. John W. 
Henrv). assumes care of Cedar 
Hill. 78 

Chambers. Henry, son of John 
Chambers. 121; coming of. to 
Iowa, 136. 246, 247: at Grouse- 
land, 142 : illness of, 146 ; let- 
ter of John Chambers to, 196, 
199, 200 201; Chambers writes 



INDEX 



269 



autobiography for, 201; family 
of, 205 

Chambers, Mrs. Henry, material 
loaned by, x; acknowledgments 
to, x; autobiography in posses- 
sion of, 205 ; miniatures in pos- 
session of, 210 

Chambers, James, birth of, 2 ; mar- 
riage of, 3 ; settlement of, in 
Pennsylvania, 206 

Chambers, Jane (Mrs. J. S. For- 
man), letter of John Chambers 
to, 198, 199, 201 

Chambers, John, administration of 
as Governor, vii; portrait of, 
frontispiece ; story of, i ; ancestry 
of, 2 ; birth of, 6 ; early years of 
13 ; attends Transylvania Semin 
ary, 14; becomes Deputy Clerk 
15, 16 ; reads in Taylor's library 
17; license of, to practice law 
17, 208 ; early association of 
with law, 18 ; candidacy of, for 
new clerkship, 19, 20, 21; mar 
riage of, 21, 209; legal success 
of, 22; death of wife of, 23; sec 
ond marriage of, 24, 209; home 
of, at Cedar Hill, 24, 25, 26 
miniature of, 26; rope walk of 
26, 27, 210; financial embarrass 
ment of, 27; election of, to legis 
lature, 30; committee work of, 30 
31, 38; becomes aid to Harrison 
33; part taken by, in battle of 
the Thames, 36; title attached to 
name of, 37; law partners of, 
38: commissioned as Justice of 
Peace, 39, 213; appointed Com- 
monwealth Attorney, 40 ; defends 
Old Court Party, 46; duties of, 
as Commonwealth Attorney, 48 ; 
relieved of necessity of prosecut- 
ing Desha, 49 ; agrees to aid 
prosecution, 50 ; attacked by 
counsel for defense, 54, 55 ; ar- 
gument of, in Desha trial, 56- 
60 ; not retained in second Desha 
trial, 61; toast by, 66; Adams 
supported by, 66 ; in State Con- 
vention, 67; election of, to Con- 
gress, 68 ; letter of, to Critten- 
den, 69, 124, 125, 135; life of, 
at Washington, D. C, 70 ; elec- 
tion of, as Kentucky legislator, 
71; resolution introduced by, on 
internal improvements, 72 ; oppo- 
sition of, to bill concerning 
slaves, 74; reelection of, 74; ef- 
forts of, for internal improve- 
ments, 74: attitude of, toward 
emancipation of slaves, 75 ; posi- 
tion on Court of Appeals declined 



by, 76, 79; death of wife of, 
76; children of, 76, 77, 78; re- 
signs position on Court of Ap- 
peals, 79, 223 ; candidacy of, for 
Congress, 79, 80; election of, 80, 
224; career of, in Congress, 81- 
93 ; speeches of, 82-84 ; reelection 
of. to Congress, 84 ; speech of, at 
public dinner, 86 ; slaves owned 
by, 86 ; speech of, concerning an- 
nexation of Texas, 87-88; atti- 
tude of, toward slavery petitions, 
89, 229, 230; abolitionist defend- 
ed bv, 89-91; resolutions offered 
by, concerning slaves, 92 ; com- 
mittee work of, in Congress, 92, 
93 ; desire of, for retirement, 94 ; 
interest of, in silk industry, 94, 
95 ; mention of, as candidate for 
Governor of Kentucky, 95, 96 ; 
friendship of, for Henry Clay, 
98, 233, 234; Harrison support- 
ed by, 98 ; campaign activities 
of, in Mason County, 99; speeches 
of, at Whig meetings, 100-105; 
accompanies Harrison to Nation- 
al capital, 106 ; services of, to 
Harrison at the White House, 108 , 
109 ; positions offered to, by Har- 
rison, 109, 110; accepts gover- 
norship of Iowa, 109 ; presence 
of, at Harrison dinner, 112; com- 
mission of, as Governor, 113, 
238; present at death of Harri- 
son, 113; leaves Kentucky for 
Iowa, 114; arrival of, in Iowa, 
115; speech of, at Burlington, 
117, 118; characterization of, 
118-121; enters upon governor- 
ship, 122 ; relations of, to Web- 
ster, 123, 236; visits Iowa City, 
125 ; land near Burlington bought 
by, 125 ; relation of, to legisla- 
ture, 128; difficulties encountered 
by, 129; letter to, concerning 
Missouri boundary, 130 ; mes- 
sage of, 131, 137; veto used by, 
134, 135; visit of, to Kentucky, 
136; home of, at Grouseland, 
136, 141, 142; divorce bill ve- 
toed by, 138; recommends vote 
on Statehood, 140 ; speech of, 
.144 ; reported removal of, 145 ; 
sickness in family of, 146 ; Mis- 
sourians pardoned by, 149, 151; 
attitude of, toward boundary dis- 
pute. 149-152 ; attitude of, to- 
ward Constitution of 1844, 153- 
3 59; mention of, as candidate for 
Delegate. 159 ; removal of, from 
office, 160; trip of, to Kentucky. 
161; superintendence of Indians 
by, 162-189; assumes duties of 



270 



INDEX 



superintendency, 171; visits In- 
dian agency, 172; arrangements 
of, for treaty, 174; speech of, at 
council, 175; recommendations 
of, concerning Indians, 176, 177; 
statement of Indian indebtedness 
submitted by, 178; shot in effigy, 
179; visits Indian country, 179; 
threatened by land seekers, 181 ; 
treaty negotiated by, 183, 184; 
sale of liquor to Indians de- 
nounced by, 184, 185 ; negotia- 
tions of, with Winnebagoes, 186, 
187; licensed traders denounced 
by, 188 ; plan of, for system of 
Indian trade, 188 ; record of, as 
Superintendent of Indian Af- 
fairs, 189 ; administration of, 
190, 191; visit of, to Kentucky, 
191; return of, to Iowa, 192; 
offered command of troops in 
Mexican War, 192; ill health of, 
193 ; opposition of, to Constitu- 
tion of 1846, 193 ; mentioned as 
candidate for State Governor, 
194 ; Grimes arraigned by, 194 ; 
return of, to Kentucky, 195 ; 
last days of, in Kentucky, 195- 
202; letters of, to his children, 
198, 199; young man caned by, 
200; refuses candidacy for public 
office, 200, 201; writing of Auto- 
biography of, 201, 202; death of, 
202 ; story of Simon Kenton and, 
220 ; activity of, in local politics, 
222 ; toast by, 224 ; ideas of, on 
war question, 225 ; post in Wash- 
ington, D. C. refused by, 236, 
237: slaves of, 240; domestic life 
of, 241 ; coming of children of, to 
Iowa, 241, 246, 247; article on, 
250; removal of, 251; letters of, 
on Indian affairs, 252 

Chambers, John, grandson of Gov- 
ernor Chambers, acknowledgments 
to, x 

Chambers, John, Mrs. (Hannah Tay- 
lor), meets John Chambers, 23; 
marriage of, 24 ; miniature of, 
26: accomplishments of. 26; at 
Cedar Hill, 69, 120; letters of, 
70, 71, 220; death of, 76; sis- 
ters of, 226 

Chambers, John, Mrs. (Margaret 
Taylor), engagement of, 19; at- 
titude of, toward clerkship. 20 ; 
marriage of, 21; death of, 22 

Chambers, John James, son of John 
Chambers, 121: coming of, to 
Iowa, 136, 246. 247; at Grouse- 
land, 142; death of, 146 

Chambers, Joseph Sprigg, accom- 
panies Chambers to Iowa, 136, 



240 ; versatility of, 142 ; presides 
at Whig meeting, 144; return of, 
to Kentucky, 146, 195 ; edits 
The Maysville Herald, 195 ; sketch 
of John Chambers by, 220 

Chambers, Laura, purchase of dress 
for, 114; coming of, to Iowa, 
121, 246, 247; at Grouseland, 
142 ; sickness of, 146 ; death of, 
196 

Chambers, Lucretia, fondness of 
Chambers for, 77; birth and 
death of, 223 

Chambers, Margaret Taylor (Mrs. 
Hugh Innis Brent), marriage of, 
223 

Chambers, Mary, purchase of dress 
for, 114; coming of, to Iowa, 121, 
246, 247; at Grouseland, 142; 
death of, 196 

Chambers, Mary, granddaughter of 
Governor Chambers, 136; comes 
to Iowa with parents, 240 

Chambers, Matilda, (Mrs. Charles 
S. Brent), keeps house for John 
Chambers, 77; marriage of, 77: 
leaves Cedar Hill, 78; death of 
daughter of, 198 ; death of John 
Chambers at home of, 202 

Chambers, Phoebe (Mrs. Robert 
Davis), 7, 15 

Chambers, Rowland, migration of, 
from Ireland, 2 

Chambers, Rowland, early life of, 
3 ; swindled by Martin, 6 ; joins 
Revolution, 5 ; forced to leave 
service, 5 ; misfortunes of, 6 ; 
migrates to Kentucky, 7, 8, 9, 
12 ; removal of, from Washing- 
ton, 15; military service of, 206; 
return of, to Washington, 208 ; 
qualifies as Justice of Peace, 209 

Chambers, William, return of, from 
Kentucky, 7 ; John Chambers sent 
to school by, 14 

Chambers and Taylor, firm of, 212 

Chambers' Ferry, 2 

Chillicothe (Ohio), Whig meeting 
at, 103 

Chouteau, Pierre, 170 

Chouteau. Pierre, and Company, 
trading firm of, 167; trading 
house of, burned, 179 ; claim of 
182, 258 

Christie. Colonel, speech of, 103 

Cincinnati (Ohio), Whigs from, 99; 
Chambers at, 114 

Clarke, James, succeeds Chambers 
as Governor, 160 ; administra- 
tion of, 191; offers command of 
troops to Chambers, 192 ; sketch 
of, 250, 251; letters of, on In- 
dian affairs, 252 



INDEX 



271 



Clarke, William Penn, assists Cham- 
bers with message, 158 ; corre- 
spondence of Chambers with, 161, 
191, 193, 194; opinion of, as to 
Chambers's height, 240 ; article 
on Chambers by, 250 

Clarke County (Kentucky), 30 

Clay, Henry, entertained at Cedar 
Hill, 26; toasts to, 66; ill health 
of, 69; attitude of, toward slav- 
ery, 73 ; chosen United States 
Senator, 75 ; dinner given to, 86 ; 
Chambers agrees with, 87; com- 
promise of, 88 ; Whig predilec- 
tions for, 96; alienates himself 
from abolitionists, 97, 233; 
friendship of Chambers for, 98, 
233, 234; presence of, at Har- 
rison dinner, 112; admirers of, 
144; popularity of, 221; letter 
of, 231 

Coburn, John, 208 

Coleman, Nicholas, candidacy of, 
for Congress, 68 

Collins, Lewis, in campaign of 1840, 
103 ; celebration reported by, 235 

Commentator, complaint of, 74 

Conewago Creek, 2 

Congress, western men in, 28; 
service of Chambers in, 68; aid 
of roads by, 71; slavery discus- 
sion in, 86 ; slavery petitions to, 
88, 89, 228-230; extra session 
of, 112; jurisdiction of, over Ter- 
ritory, 131; appeal to, for aid, 
132, 137; memorial to, 140, 141, 
189 ; submission of Constitution 
of 1844 to, 143 ; action of, on 
boundary of Iowa, 147-157; fail- 
ure of, to change Indian policy, 
188 ; Iowa asks admission as 
State by, 190 

Congressional Debates, 68 

Constitution of 1844, framing of, 
143 ; discussion of, 152-159 

Constitution of 1846, opposition of 
Chambers to, 193 

Constitution of United States, Ken- 
tucky law in conflict with, 44 

Constitutional Convention, State, 
vote on, 131-134; appropriation 
for, 140 ; meeting of, in 1844, 
143 

Continental Congress, Declaration 
of Independence by, 5 

Council Bluffs (Iowa), Indian sub- 
agency near site of, 167 

Court of Appeals of Kentucky, com- 
position of, 43, 44; decision of, 
against stay laws, 44; attempt 
to overthrow, 45, 46 ; triumph 
of, 47; position on, declined by 



Chambers, 76, 79, 223 ; struggle 
over, 95 

Covington (Kentucky), Whigs from, 
99 

Craig, Lewis, Mason County court- 
house built by, 13, 207 

Crawford, Mr., employed in second 
Desha trial, 61 

Crawford, T. Hartley, correspond- 
ence of Chambers with, 172, 177, 
178, 188; appointment of, to 
make treaty, 174; speech of, 175 

Crittenden, John J., entertained at 
Cedar Hill, 26; letters of Cham- 
bers to, 69, 124, 133, 135; din- 
ner given in honor of, 86 ; state- 
ment of Chambers to, 87; ap- 
pointment of, as Attorney Gen- 
eral, 107; pushes Brown for 
Governor of Iowa, 110; pres- 
ence of, at Harrison dinner, 112; 
letter of, to Letcher, 112 

Cumberland Gap, migration through, 
10; reference to, 207 

Cynthiana (Kentucky), Desha trial 
at, 50 

Dakotah Indians, 163 
Dauphin County (Pennsylvania), 2 
Davenport, George, 170 
David, grief of, for Absalom, 56 
Davis, Garrett, succeeds Chambers 
in Congress, 96 ; report of, on 
Iowa boundary, 147; supports 
Iowa's claim, 148 
Davis, Peter, migration of, 8 
Davis, Robert, migration of, to Ken- 
tucky, 7 
Davis, Robert, Mrs. (Phoebe Cham- 
bers), 7, 15 
Davis County (Iowa), 149 
Dayton (Ohio), Whig meeting at, 

103 
Declaration of Independence, 5, 10 
Democrats, disappointed in Van 
Buren, 97; defeat of, in 1840, 
105 ; power of, in Territory of 
Iowa, 131; Statehood favored by, 
133; plans of, for Territorial of- 
fices, 146 ; attitude of, toward 
Constitution of 1844, 152, 153, 
154, 155 
Desha, Isaac B., suspected of the 
murder of Baker, 48 ; granted 
trial in Harrison County, 49 ; 
evidence concerning, 51; compos- 
ure of, during trial, 52 ; charac- 
ter of, 53, 55; family of, 54; 
fallibility of, 59; found guilty, 
60 ; granted new trial, 61 ; found 
guilty on new trial, 61; attempts 
suicide, 62 ; bail granted to, 62 ; 



272 



INDEX 



pardoned by Governor Desha, 63 ; 
later reports concerning, 63 

Desha, Joseph, message of, 47, 48 ; 
counsel for son's trial secured by, 
49 ; presence of, at Desha trial, 
52, 57; son pardoned by, 63; 
cost of family of, to State, 218 

Desha trial, 48-64, 118; volume 
containing proceedings at, 216 

Des Moines County (Iowa), 144 

Des Moines River, 132; Ioway 
Indians upon, 164; Sacs and 
Foxes settle upon, 166 ; refer- 
ence to, 175, 184 

Detroit, defeat of Hull at, 29; re- 
capture of, 30; reference to, 34 

District of Columbia, slavery in, 
86, 89, 228, 229, 233 

Divorce, attitude of Chambers to- 
ward, 138 

Dodge, Augustus Caesar, Iowa's 
boundary claim supported by, 
148; Constitution of 1844 en- 
trusted to, 152 ; expiration of 
term of, 159 ; reelection of, as 
Delegate, 160; letter of Cham- 
bers to, 189 ; political blunder 
of, 249 

Doggate, Nancy . testimony of, in 
Desha trial, 51 

Doggate, Richard, Francis Baker 
at tavern of, 51 

Don Quixote, 111 

Doty, James Duane, appointment 
of, to make treaty, 174; treaty 
negotiated by, with Sioux In- 
dians, 186, 260 

Douglass, Richard, speech by, 100 

Durrett, Reuben Thomas, acknowl- 
edgments to, x; library of, 215, 
216 

Eastman, Enoch W., speeches of. 

against Constitution of 1844, 249 
Eddy, J. P., trading house of, 168, 

255: claim of, 182, 258 
Eddyville (Iowa), 168 
Ediriburg Review, 111 
Education in Iowa, 137, 141 
Edwards, H. C, toast by, 66 
Edwards, James G., assists in wel- 
come of Chambers, 118 
Edwards, John C, opposition of. 

to Iowa's claims, 148 ; letter of 

Chambers to, 149 
Election, presidential, of 1828, 65, 

68; of 1840, 94-105 
England, 4, 6 

Erie, Lake, victory of Perry on, 34 
Ewing, G. W., complaint of, 187, 

188 
Ewing, G. W. and W. G.. firm of, 

167; claim of, 182, 258 



Ewing, Thomas, appointment of, 
as Secretary of the Treasury, 
107; reference to, 236 

Fleming County (Kentucky), mur- 
der of Baker in, 48 

Fletcher, Jonathan E.. Indian sub- 
agent in Iowa, 254 

Forman, Hannah Chambers, Mrs., 
acknowledgments to, xi 

Forman, John S., Mrs. (Jane 
Chambers), letter of John Cham- 
bers to, 198, 199, 201 

Forman, John S., 191, 195, 197, 
210 

Forman, Joseph, Rowland Cham- 
bers works for, 3 

Forman, Throckmorton. acknow- 
ledgments to, xi ; reference to, 
210, 211, 212, 213 

Fort Madison (Iowa), 115 

Fort Snelling, site of, 197 

Fox, Arthur, 226 

Fox, Arthur, Mrs. (Lucretia Tav- 
lor). 226 

Fox Indians, 163 ; division line be- 
tween Sioux and, 164; in Black 
Hawk War, 165 ; move west- 
ward, 166; agency of, 166, 167, 
170, 173 174, 180: factional 
spirit among, 168-173 ; council 
of Beach with, 173 ; negotia- 
tions with, for land cession, 174, 
180: indebtedness of. 178, 181- 
183: treaty of 1842 with. 183; 
removal of. 185 ; return of, from 
Kansas, 260 

France, 26 ; danger of war with, 
81. 82 

Frankfort (Kentucky). 67. 74. 110 

Frenchtown. defeat of Winchester 
at, 32 

Goggin. Colonel, Cedar Hill pur- 
chased by, 195 

Granger, Francis, appointment of, 
as Postmaster-General. 107 

Great Britain, denunciation of, 30: 
Ballengall a citizen of, 31; medi- 
ation of, 82 

Great Lakes, migrations of Indians 
along. 162. 164 

Greathouse. William, slaves of, ab- 
ducted, 90. 91 

Gregory, Uriah, arrest of, 130 

Grimes. James W.. speech of, wel- 
coming Chambers. 115-117; pe- 
tition signed by. 147 ; arraign- 
ment of. by Chambers. 194: 
minutes of Indian council kept 
by. 257 

Grouseland. home of Chambers at, 
136. 141, 142, 161, 192, 193, 
196 



INDEX 



273 



Hagerstown (Maryland), 23, 208 

Hall, Barbara Bowie (Mrs. Igna- 
tius TavlorV 209 

Hall, Letitia Sprigg, 226 

Hardfish, following of, 168, 169, 
173 : efforts of, for equitable dis- 
tribution of annuities, 172 ; ab- 
sence of, from council, 174; cen- 
sus of band of, 255 

Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), settle- 
ment near, 2 ; convention of 
Whigs at, 97, 100 

Harrison, William Henry, army of, 
29; army of, delayed, 31; Cham 
bers arranges papers of, 33 ; pur 
suit of Procter by, 34, 35; vie 
tory of, at battle of the Thames, 
35 ; report of battle of Thames 
by, 36; candidacy of, for presi 
dency in 1836, 80; candidacy of 
for presidency in 1840, 96; nomi 
nation of, for President, 97, 233 
campaign in favor of, 97-105 
234; eulogies of, 101; victory of 
105 : accompanied to Washington 
by Chambers and Todd, 106 ; in 
auguration of, 107; installation 
of, in White House, 108 ; ap 
pointments by, 109, 110, 111 
dinner by, 112; death of, 113 
116 

Harrison County (Kentucky), De 
sha trial transferred to, 49 ; ref 
erence to, 50, 63 

Harrodsburg (Kentucky), conven 
tion at, 95 

Hawkins, Joseph C, seat of, va 
cated, 131; appointment as Gov 
ernor sought by, 237 

Hebard, Alfred, appointment of, as 
investigating agent, 181; opin- 
ion of, as to Chambers's height, 
241; article by, 259 

Henry, John W., comes to Cedar 
Hill, 78 

Henry, John W., Mrs. (Hannah 
Chambers), assumes care of Ce- 
dar Hill, 78 

Highland clan, ancestors of Cham- 
bers in, 2 

Hill, Isaac, 237 

Hull, William, defeat of, 29 

Illinois, Whigs from, 144 
Indian Affairs. Office of, at Wash- 
ington, D. C, xi 
Indian Boundary Line, 147 
Indiana, retaliation upon, 39 
Indians, menacing attitude of, 29 
massacre of Kentuckians by, 32 
contempt of, for Procter, 34 
relations of Chambers to, 127 
visits of, to Chambers, 142; af 

18 



fairs relating to, in Iowa, 162- 
189; traders among, 167, 168; 
trade and intercourse with, 176, 
177; evils practiced upon, 176, 
188; system of trade suggested 
for, 188, 189; westward move- 
ment of, 190 ; negotiations with, 
in Minnesota, 197, 198 

Internal Improvements, efforts for, 
in Kentucky, 72 

Iowa, Territory of, history of, vii ; 
growth of, ix ; Governor of, 2 ; 
Chambers in, 25 ; governorship 
of, 109-113; Chambers leaves for, 
114; coming of Chambers to, 
120-122; Chambers as Governor 
of, 127-142; people of, 128; Or- 
ganic Act of, 130, 135 ; legisla- 
ture of, 131, 133, 136, 138; 
question of Statehood in, 132, 133, 
140, 143-160; political conditions 
in, 133; return of Chambers to, 
136: reported change of officers 
in, 139, 145; home of Chambers 
in, 145, 146; boundaries of, 147- 
152; Indian affairs in, 162-189; 
extent of, 162; period of growth 
of, 190; troops of, in Mexican 
war, 192 

Iowa City (Iowa), Lucas at, 122; 
visit of Chambers to, 125 ; meet- 
ing of legislature at, 131, 136; 
public buildings at, 132, 134; 
mail from, 134; meeting of Con- 
stitutional Convention at, 143 

Iowa-Missouri boundary dispute, 
129, 130, 147-152 

Iowa River, 165 ; Indians move 
from, 166 

Ioway Indians, 163 ; subjugation 
of, 164 

Ireland, ancestry of Chambers in, 
2 

Irvin, Brownson and, Chambers 
clerks in store of, 15 

Jackson, Andrew, candidacy of, for 
President, 65 ; toasts to, 66 ; 
execution of men at Mobile by, 
66 ; success of, in election of 
1828, 68: rumor concerning, 69 ; 
inauguration of, 71; veto by, 71; 
antipathy of, for internal im- 
provements, 72; message of, 81, 
82, 221; appointment by, 219 

Jenifer, Daniel, 229 

Johnson, Richard M., mounted regi- 
ment of, in battle of Thames, 35; 
defeat of, for United States Sena- 
tor, 75 ; Chambers speaks of, 
104; presence of, at Harrison 
dinner, 112 



274 



INDEX 



.Tourdan, Mrs. (Mrs. Ignatius Tay- 
lor), 209 
Juniata River, 206 

Kansas, Sac and Fox Indians in, 
260 

Kendall, Amos, Jackson supported 
by, 66 

Kenton, Simon, explorations of, in 
Kentucky, 10 ; pension of, 220 

Kentucky, service of Chambers in, 
vii, ix ; trail into interior of, 9, 10 ; 
northeast gateway of, 11; up- 
lands of, 12 ; change in courts 
of, 18 ; coming of Hannah Tay- 
lor to, 20; hemp industry in, 26; 
part of, in War of 1812, 29; 
legislature of, 30; news of mas- 
sacre of Frenchtown reaches, 32; 
return of Chambers to, from War 
of 1812, 36; gallantry in, 37; 
legislature of, 38, 72; financial 
conditions in, 39, 40-47; bound- 
ary dispute between Tennessee 
and, 39; Court of Appeals of, 
43; orators of, 57; reference to, 
63, 65; election of 1828 in, 66, 
67; slavery in, 73; federal aid 
to, 83 ; Representatives of, 86, 
147; conciliation by, 87, 88; es- 
cape of slaves from, 90 ; silk in- 
dustry in, 94, 95 ; Whigs of, 100, 
104 ; reference to, 103, 106, 110; 
Whig victory in, 105 ; Chambers 
leaves, 113, 121; Chambers in 
legislature of, 116 ; development 
of, 118; service of Chambers in, 
119; visit of Chambers to, 136, 
178 ; return of Chambers to, 
146, 191, 198; friends of Cham- 
bers in, 160; cholera in, 196 

Keokuk, Indians restrained by, 
165; reservation of, 165, 166; 
band of, 168, 170; fondness of, 
for money, 169 ; intemperance of, 
172; payment to, 174; speech 
of, 175 ; sale of lands proposed 
by, 178; petition of band of, 255 

Keosauqua (Iowa), carrying of 
mail to, 134 

Key, Marshall, resolutions read by, 
100 

Kinderhook, Wizard of (Martin 
Van Buren), 96 

Lake Erie, victory of Perry on, 34 
Lapsley v. Brashears, case of, 215 
LeClaire, Antoine, presence of, at 
Indian Agency, 170; acts as in- 
terpreter at treaty of 1842, 183 
Lee, Betty, sister of Sarah Lee, 3 
Lee, Sarah, marriage of, to James 
Chambers, 3 



Leffler, Shepherd, chosen as legis- 
lator, 131; speeches of, against 
Constitution of 1844, 249 

Letcher, Robert P., nomination of, 
for Governor, 96, 233; letter to, 
110, 112; letter from, 111 

Lewis County (Kentucky), 200 

Lexington (Kentucky), road to, 10, 
73, 74; Chambers at school in, 
14 ; Judge Shannon of, 50 ; silk 
convention at, 94 

Library of Congress, officials of, xi 

Licking Valley, 7, 11 

Limestone, early name for Mays- 
ville, Kentucky, 9; migration by 
way of, 9, 10; Chambers lands 
at, 12 ; reference to, 114 

Linder, William P., trial of, 149; 
pardon of, 149, 151 

London, 205 

Long Island, 3 

Louisville (Kentucky), Whigs from 
99; Chambers lands at, 114; 
Henrv Chambers at, 196 

Lowe, Ralph P., defeat of, for 
Delegate, 160 

Lower Blue Licks (Kentucky), 68 

Lucas, Robert, administration of, 
vii ; last weeks of governorship of, 
109; difficulties between Grimes 
and, 116 ; absence of, from Bur- 
lington, 122 ; no notice of change 
received by, 123, 242 ; relations 
of, to legislature, 127; boundary 
crisis handled by, 129, 150; 
recommendation of, 131; Jesse 
Williams accompanies, 139; men- 
tion of, as Governor, 146 ; Sec- 
retary under, 160 ; Indian affairs 
at opening of term of, 168 ; sym- 
pathy of, for Hardfish, 169; op- 
position of, to Beach, 171 ; ad- 
ministration of, 190; address of, 
243; proclamation of, 243; let- 
ters of, on Indian affairs, 252 

Lucas Boundaries, 153 

McAfee, Robert, in Kentucky leg- 
islature, 30 

McClung, John A., resolutions pre- 
sented by, 100 ; speech by, 104 

McClung, Will, law cases of, 22 

MacGregor, James, Indian sub- 
agent in Iowa, 254 

Mackoy, Harry Brent, acknowledg- 
ments to, x; aid given by, 206; 
papers in possession of, 206 

Mackoy, W. H., acknowledgements 
to, xi; article by, 214 

McLean, John, Chambers takes oath 
before, 114; appointment of, on 
Supreme Court, 219 



INDEX 



275 



Mad River, 220 

Madeira's Hotel (Chillicothe), 102 

Mahan, John B., trial of, for ab- 
duction of slaves, 90, 91; letter 
of, 230; testimony against, 231 

Maiden, 34 

Maltby, Colonel, acknowledgments 
to, xi 

Maltby, Lucien, acknowledgments 
to, xi ; present owner of Cedar 
Hill, 210 

Marietta (Ohio), 9 

Marshall, Alexander K., law cases 
of, 22 

Marshall, Martin P., law cases of, 
22; counsel in Desha trial, 50; 
speech of, 52 

Marshall, Thomas, a candidate for 
new clerkship, 18 

Martin, John, Rowland Chambers 
a partner of, 3 ; leaves America, 
4; heirs of, 6 

Maryland, 19, 23 

Mason Central Tippecanoe Club, 
organization of, 99 

Mason County (Kentucky), 9, 11, 
22, 23, 30, 38, 39, 46, 67, 73, 90, 
91, 92, 105, 146, 195, 200, 208 

Mason County Circuit, 22, 23 

Mason County Silk Society, 94 

Massachusetts, 173 

Mayslick (Kentucky), murder of 
Baker near, 48 

Maysville (Kentucky), early town 
of, 9 ; gathering of "Whigs at, 99, 
100 ; Chambers leaves, for Iowa, 
113; visit of Chambers to, 191; 
home of Chambers near, 195, 
196; Chambers leaves, 197; 
county records at, 208 

Maysville Eagle, items in, 48, 67, 
71; reference to, 83, 95; editor 
of, 103 

Maysville Herald, The, J. S. Cham- 
bers edits, 195 

Maysville Monitor, 80 

Maysville Tippecanoe Club, 99 

Maysville Turnpike, migration by 
way of, 10; Chambers builds 
house near, 24; movements for 
aid to, 71-74; procession along, 
100; material relating to, 207 

Mendota (Minnesota), 197 

Menefee, Richard H., speech by, 100 

Mercer County (Kentucky), 30 

Meskwaki Indians, settlement of, in 
Iowa, 260 

Metcalfe, Thomas, in legislature of 
Kentucky, 30; speeches by, 100, 
104; vote for, 219; call for can- 
didacy of, 226 

Mexican War, command of troops 
in, offered to Chambers, 192 



Miami Valley, convention of Whigs 
of, 103 

Militia of Territory of Iowa, 137, 
141 

Mills, Benjamin, Judge of Ken- 
tucky Court of Appeals, 44, 46 

Minnesota, part of, included in Ter- 
ritory of Iowa, 162 

Minnesota, Territory of, 197 

Minnesota River, 197 

Mississippi River, prairies east of, 
9 ; country between Alleghanies 
and, 98; towns on, 114, 128; im- 
provement of, 132, 137, 138, 
141; reference to, 140, 164, 166, 
179, 186, 197 

Mississippi Valley, settling of, vii, 
1; Indians in, 163 

Missouri Compromise, 88 

Missouri-Iowa boundary dispute, 
129, 130, 147-152 

Missouri River, 141, 153, 163, 
164, 178, 184, 190 

Mitchell, Mr., presence of, at In- 
dian agency, 170 

Mobile, executions by Jackson at, 66 

Monongahela country, Whiskey In- 
surrection in, 8 

Monongahela River, migration on, 
8 

Moore, Mr., Chambers clerks for, 
13 

Moore, Zedekiah, Francis Baker at 
tavern of, 51 

Morehead, J. T., report of, 72 ; ap- 
pointment by, 79 ; speeches bv, 
100, 102: mission of, to Ohio, 
231 

Mullican, Phoebe, marriage of, to 
Rowland Chambers, 3 

Mullinix, Preston, pardon of, 149, 
151 

Muscatine (Iowa), 130 

Muskingum River, 9 

National House (Burlington). 118 

National Republicans, Metcalfe 
nominated by, 67 

Navy, increase of, of United States, 
81. 82 

Nealley, Colonel, 122 

Neutral Ground, erection of, 164; 
Winnebagoes move to, 167; re- 
moval of Winnebagoes from, 186, 
187 

New Court, records of, 215 

New Court Party, 46, 47, 65, 66 

New England, villages of, 1 

New Hampshire, 109 

New Jersey, birth of John Chambers 
in, vii; Rowland Chambers in, 
3 ; property in, 4 ; militia of, 5 ; 



276 



INDEX 



migration of Chambers from, 8 ; 

boyhood of John Chambers in, 13 
New York, Rowland Chambers goes 

to, 3 ; reference to, 4, 8 ; fire in, 

83 
New York Relief Bill, speech of 

Chambers on, 82-84 
Nicholas County (Kentucky), 30, 

68 
Nicollet Boundaries, 153, 249 
Niles' Register, quotations from, 103 
North Dakota, part of, included in 

Territory of Iowa, 162 
Northwest, forts of, 28 ; defense of, 

40 
Nullification, attitude of Clay to- 
ward, 88 

Ohio, experience of Lucas in, vii; 
Zane's trace across, 9 ; impor- 
tance of, in War of 1812, 29; 
defense of, 40 ; internal improve- 
ment system of, 72 ; Representa- 
tives from, 86; effect of Mahan 
case in, 90 ; reference to, 92, 97, 
101, 107, 139; Whig meetings 
in, 102, 103, 104; Chambers 
stops in, 114; development of, 
117 

Ohio River, migration on, 8, 9, 10; 
reference to, 12, 16, 162, 197; 
descent of, in 1794, 117 

Ohio Yalley, changes in, 28; Whig 
meetings in, 106 

Old Court Party, 46, 47, 65, 66, 68 

Old Dominion, families of, 1 

Omaha Indians, 163 

Oquawka (Illinois), 170 

Organic Act of the Territorv of 
Iowa, 130, 135 

Otoe Indians, 163 

Ottumwa (Iowa), trading posts 
near site of, 167 

Owsley, William, Judge of Kentucky 
Court of Appeals, 44, 46 ; defeat 
of. for gubernatorial nomination, 
233 

Oxford (England), research at, 205 

Paris (Kentucky). 73, 74, 77, 191, 
196, 201; death of John James 
Chambers at, 146 : death of John 
Chambers at, 202 ; Whig celebra- 
tion at, 224 

Parish, John C, biographies writ- 
ten by, vii, preface by, ix 

Parran. Ann. Mrs., (Mrs. Ignatius 
Taylor). 209 

Parvin, Theodore S., speeches of. 
against Constitution of 1844. 249 

Pashepaho, suggestion of, 173 ; 
agreement signed by, 174 

Paxton, James A., partnership of 



Chambers with, 38; reference to 
212, 213 

Paxton, William, letter from, 212 

Payne, Major, part taken bv, in bat 
tie of the Thames, 36 

Penitentiarv, recommendation con 
cerning, 132, 137 

Pennsylvania, migration across, 8 

Perrv, Oliver Hazard, victory of 
33* 34 

Petitions, reception of, by Congress 
88, 89. 228-230 

Peyton, Bailey, Chambers commend 
ed bv, 84 

Phelps, S. S., 167, 170 

Phelps, William, 167, 170 

Phister, J. O.. accompanies Cham- 
bers as private secretary, 121 

Pickett, Dr. Thomas, acknowledg- 
ments to, xi 

Pilcher, Major, correspondence of, 
172 

Pinckney Resolutions, passage of, 
88; text of, 228 

Pittsburg, emigrants pass, 8 

Plates, xv, frontispiece, 26 

Platte River, 163 

Polk, James K., campaign of, 144; 
election of, 146 : petition to, 147 ; 
takes office, 159; retention of 
Chambers bv, 161; reference to, 
230, 239, 252 

Pope, John, 230 

Portsmouth (Ohio), site of, 9; 
Whigs from, 99 

Pottawattamie Indians, 163 ; agency 
of, 167; reference to, 178 

Poweshiek, annuities paid to, 169; 
reference to, 255 

Poyntz, N., letter to, 210 

Procter. Henry, army of, 32 ; re- 
treat of, into Canada, 34; con- 
tempt of Tecumseh for, 34, 35 ; 
defeat and flight of, 35, 36 

Raisin River, massacre on. 32, 33, 
34, 35, 36 

Ramsay, Alexander, negotiations of, 
with Sioux. 197 

Randolph, John, similarity of Hen- 
ry Wise to, 226 

Raritan River, mills on, 3 

Reeder, Henry, appointment of, as 
delegate to silk convention, 94 

Reid, Walker, instructions of, to 
jury, 91 

Relief Party, legislation secured by, 
41, 42 ; composition of. 44 ; con- 
nection of William T. Barrv with, 
53 

Revolutionary War, i: outbreak of. 
3: close of. 6: reference to, 28, 
30 



INDEX 



277 



Revnolds, Thomas, letter of, to 
Chambers, 130, 131, 244 

Richardson, Jonn, 212 

Ripley (Ohio), meeting of Whigs 
at, 104; Chambers visits Francis 
Taylor at, 197 

Robertson, George, prominent in An- 
ti-Relief Party. 45 

Rock River, Sac Indians on, 164 

Romans, reference to, in Harri- 
son's inaugural speech, 107 

Rowan, John, prominent in Relief 
Party, 44 ; counsel in Desha trial, 
49; prominence of, 50; argument 
of. in Desha trial, 55 ; gift of 
speech of, 56; reply of Chambers 
to, 58 ; not retained in second 
Desha trial, 61; accusations of, 
118; election of, as Senator, 216 

Sac Indians, 163 ; early village of, 
164; in Black Hawk War, 165; 
migration of, 166; agency of, 
166. 167, 170, 173, 174, 180; 
factional spirit among, 168-173 ; 
council of Beach with, 173 ; ne- 
gotiations with, for land cession, 
174, 180; indebtedness of, 178, 
180-183 ; treaty of 1842 with, 
183; removal of, 185; return of, 
from Kansas, 260 
St. Louis (Missouri), Chambers 
passes, 114; rumor from, 145; 
reference to, 167, 170 
St. Peters River (Minnesota River), 
Indian agency on, 166, 180; ref- 
erence to, 187 
Sancho Panza, 111 
Sandford, Major, 167, 170 
Sandusky, Upper, Harrison at, 31 
Sandusky River, camp of Harrison 

on, 33 
Scioto River, 9 
Scotland, ancestors of Chambers in, 

2; Judge Ballengall born in, 31 
Seneca, Camp, Harrison at, 33, 34 
Shambaugh, Benj. F., editor's in- 
troduction by, vii ; volume sug- 
gested by, ix; Autobiography of 
John Chambers secured by, x, 
205; acknowledgments to, xi ; 
newspaper compilation by, 252 
Shannon, Judge, trial of Desha be- 
fore, 50 ; new trial granted by, 
61 ; censure of, 61 
Sharpe, Solomon P., prominent in 

Relief Party, 44 
"Shockoquon", ferry boat, 115 
Shelby, Isaac, message of, 30; takes 
command of troops, 32 ; letters to 
Chambers from, 33; Harrison 
joined by, 34 



Silk industry in Kentucky, 94, 95, 
232 

Sioux Indians, 163 ; wars of Sacs 
and Foxes with, 164; agency of, 
166; removal of Winnebagoes to 
country of, 180; negotiations 
with, 186, 197-198 

Sioux River, 141 

Slack, Jacob A., Old Court opposed 
by, 46 

Slaughter, Gabriel, appointment by, 
40 

Slavery, discussion of, 86 ; petitions 
to Congress concerning, 88, 89 ; 
meddling of North with, 227, 
232 ; power of Congress over, 
229; position of Henry Clay on, 
233 

Slaves, fears of insurrection of, 71; 
emancipation of, in Kentucky, 
73, 75 

Smith, J. Speed, mission of, to Ohio, 
231; reference to, 234 

Smith, Jeremiah, Indians exhibited 
by. 179 

Somerset County (New Jersey), 3 

South, Confederacy of the, 87 

South Dakota, part of, included in 
Territory of Iowa, 162 

Sprigg, Joseph, 209 

Statehood, question of, 131-134, 
140, 143, 152-159 

Stith, Mrs., celebration at tavern 
of, 65 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, slave sale 
scene of, 207 

Stull, Lucretia, letter of Chambers 
to, 84; visit of, to Cedar Hill, 
226 

Stull, O. H. W., appointed Secre- 
tary of Territory of Iowa, 113; 
daughters of, 122 ; becomes Act- 
ing Governor, 136; removal of, 
139; family of, 226 

Street, Joseph M., Indian Agent 
in Iowa, 166; death of, 170; 
sketch of, 254 

Sub-Treasury Bill, defeat of, 85 

Sullivan Boundary Line, recom- 
mended by Davis, 147 

Supreme Court of the Territory of 
Iowa, 147 

Supreme Court of the United States, 
denunciation of, 47 ; appoint- 
ment to, 69 ; reference to, 114, 
130, 151 

Susquehanna River, Rowland Cham- 
bers settles on, 2 

Taliaferro, Lawrence, Indian Agent 

in Iowa, 166 
Tama County (Iowa), Indians in, 

260 



278 



INDEX 



Tanner, William, candidacy of, for 
Congress, 80; votes for, 224 

Tariff Convention, 222 

Taul, Mr., counsel in Desha trial, 
50 ; employed in second Desha 
trial, 61 

Taylor, Ann. 209 

Taylor, Francis, offers deputy clerk- 
ship to Chambers, 15 ; withdraws 
to farm, 16; Chambers uses li- 
brary of, 17 ; a candidate for 
new clerkship, 18, 19 ; election 
of, as clerk, 20 ; opposition of, 
to marriage of Chambers, 20, 21; 
Chambers visits, 197; sketch of, 
208; father of, 209; presides 
over Harrison meeting, 235 

Taylor, Hannah (Mrs. John Cham- 
bers), Chambers meets, 23; mar- 
riage of, to Chambers, 24 ; min- 
iature of, 26; accomplishments 
of, 26; hospitality of, 120; an- 
cestors of, 209; letters of, 220; 
sisters of, 226 

Taylor, Ignatius, attitude of, toward 
daughter's marriage, 21; Cham- 
bers visits home of, 23 ; son of, 
208: wives of, 209 

Taylor, Jane (Mrs. Samuel Treat), 
226 

Taylor, Lucretia (Mrs. Arthur 
Fox), 226 

Taylor, Margaret (Mrs. John Cham- 
bers), engagement of, to John 
Chambers, 19 ; attitude of, to- 
ward clerkship, 20; marriage of, 
to Chambers, 21; death of, 22; 
father of, 209 

Taylor, Mr., Chambers in partner- 
ship with, 38 

Taylor, Robert, Old Court defended 
by, 46; bill of, 73 

Taylor, William, arrival of, expect- 
ed, 108 

Taylor, Chambers and, firm of, 212 

Tecumseh, contempt of, for General 
Procter, 34; death of, 35, 36 

Ten Eyck, Jacob, 206 

Tennessee, boundary dispute be- 
tween Kentucky and, 39; execu- 
tion of militiamen of, 66 ; Rep- 
resentatives of, 84. 86 

Texas, Isaae Desha goes to, 63 ; an- 
nexation of, 86, 87 

Thames, battle of the, 35, 36, 80, 
96, 101, 103, 234 

Thames River, retreat of Procter 
up, 34; battle on bank of, 35 

Thornton, John Rootes, candidacy 
of, 80 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 80, 101, 103, 
108, 224 

Tippecanoe clubs, 99, 107 



Todd, Charles S., part taken by, in 
battle of the Thames, 36 ; enters 
campaign for Harrison, 98 ; 
speech by, 103, 104; presence of, 
at Harrison dinner, 112. 113; 
letter of, concerning Harrison, 
234 

Toulman, Harry, President of 
Transylvania Seminary, 14 

Townsend, John Wilson, acknowl- 
edgments to, xi 

"Transit", steamer carrying Whig 
delegation, 102 

Transylvania Seminary, Chambers 
attends, 14 

Treat, Samuel, 226 

Treat, Samuel, Mrs. (Jane Taylor), 
226 

Trimble, Robert, death of, 219 

Turkey River, Indian agency on, 
167 

Tyler, John, presence of, at Harri- 
son dinner, 112 ; appointments 
of, 139; nomination of, 233; ref- 
erence to, 239 

Ulster, Province of, 2 

Underwood, Joseph, defeat of, 219 

United States, war of, with Great 

Britain, 31; difficulties of, with 

France, 81 
Upper Iowa River, 164 
Upper Sandusky, Harrison at, 31 

Van Buren, Martin, extra session 
called by, 85 ; criticism of. 95 ; 
close of administration of, 96, 
105, 108; support of, by Demo- 
crats, 97; attacks upon, 101 

Vance, Joseph, requisition granted 
by, 90; letter of Mahan to, 230 

Van der Zee, Jacob, investigations 
in England by, 205 

Vaughan, Mr., counsel for Mahan, 
91 

Veto, exercise of. by Chambers, 134 

Viele, Philip, appointment as Gov- 
ernor sought by, 237 

Virginia, Lucas born in, vii; moun- 
taineers of, 7; legislature of, 11; 
reference to, 84, 89 

Wall, William K., Desha trial prose- 
cuted by, 49 ; address of, 52 ; 
reflection upon, 58; conducts 
second prosecution of Desha 
alone, 61 

Wapello, annuities paid to, 169 ; 
proposes cession of land, 178; 
reference to, 255 

Wapello Countv (Iowa), 166 

War for the Union, 40, 86 



INDEX 



279 



War of 1812, attitude of West to- 
ward, 28, 29; Chambers in, 98; 
veterans of, 107 

Washington, D. C, materials in, 
x; Chambers at, 68, 70, 85; 
Chambers refuses position in, 
109; duties of Harrison in, 111; 
memorial sent to, 170; reference 
to, 177, 178, 197, 198 

Washington (Kentucky), home of 
Chambers at, xi; early history of, 
10, 11; description of. 12, 13; 
Chambers settles in, 13 ; return 
of Chambers to, 14; removal of 
Rowland Chambers from, 15 ; 
Chambers Clerk of Trustees of, 
16; parents of Chambers return 
to, 18; meeting at, 46; Fourth 
of July celebration at, 65 : turn- 
pike through, 72, 73, 74; silk 
meeting at, 94 ; court-house in, 
99; Whig celebration at, 99-101; 
liberty pole raised at, 104; rally 
in. 105 ; visit of Chambers to, 
161; burial of John Chambers 
at, 202; reference to, 207, 208, 
227 

Webster, Daniel, Whig predilections 
for, 96 ; eliminated from cam- 
paign of 1840, 97; chosen for 
Secretary of State, 107; inaugu- 
ral address revised by, 107, 123 ; 
favors James Wilson as Gover- 
nor of Iowa, 110, 123 ; presence 
of, at Harrison dinner, 112; neg- 
lect of, to notify Lucas of change 
in governorship, 123 ; changes 
of inaugural address by, 236; 
candidate of, 237; reference to, 
242 

West, attitude of, toward War of 
1812, 28, 29; presidential candi- 
dates from, 97 
Westward movement, vii 

Wheeling (West Virginia), 9; din- 
ner at, 86 

Whigs, Harrison the presidential 
candidate of, 80; minority of, in 
Congress, 81, 85; in campaign 
of 1840, 96, 97-105; convention 
of, at Harrisburg, 97; triumph 
of, 105 ; plans of, to welcome 
Chambers, 115; minority of, in 
Territory of Iowa, 131, 135; op- 



position of, to Statehood, 133 ; 
delegates to Constitutional Con- 
vention of, 143, 193 ; meeting of, 
144; opposition of, to Constitu- 
tion of 1844, 152 ; State conven- 
tion of, in 1839, 233; National 
convention of, in 1839, 233 

White House, Harrison installed in, 
108 

Whittlesey, Elisha, Chambers suc- 
ceeds, 92 

Wicliffe, Charles A., speech by. 102, 
104 

Wicliffe, Robert, prominent in Anti- 
Relief Party, 45 

Wiggins, Mr., Chambers clerks in 
store of, 13 

Wilderness Road, 207 

Williams, George W., candidacy of, 
for Congress, 80 ; position of, on 
Bank question, 80, 224 

Williams, Jesse, correspondence of, 
122, 139, 240; appointment of, 
as Secretary of Territory of Iowa ; 
140, 247 

Williams, Joseph, petition for ap- 
pointment of, as Governor, 147 

Williams, M. T., letter of, 139 

Wilson, James, rumors of appoint- 
ment of, as Governor of Iowa, 
109, 110; candidacy of, for Gov- 
ernor, 123, 237; mention of, as 
candidate for Delegate, 159 

Winchester, James, advance of, 31; 
defeat of, at Frenchtown, 32 

Winnebago Indians, 163, 164; take 
part in Black Hawk War, 165 ; 
agency of, 167; negotiations with, 
179, 186, 187 

Wisconsin, 174 

Wise, Henry A., Chambers com- 
mended by, 84; attitude of, to- 
ward slavery petitions, 89 ; J. 
Q. Adams's opinion of, 226 ; at- 
titude of, toward Atherton reso- 
lutions, 229 

Wood, Major, part taken by, in 
battle of the Thames, 36 

Woodall, Mrs. H. H., acknowledg- 
ments to, xi 

Worthington, W., Old Court op- 
posed by, 46 

Zane, Ebenezer, trail of, 9, 207 



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